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Takeaways from AP’s investigation of US death benefits program for public safety officers

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Summary
Nutrition label

84% Informative

Congress created the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits program in 1976 to guarantee that the spouses and children of officers who put their lives on the line would receive financial support.

Repeated expansions in eligibility approved by Congress , including three passed in the last five years , have made the program more popular and complex to administer.

Critics say the program fails some families by taking too long to grant or deny benefits.

Nate Afolayan died from heat illness after completing a 1.5-mile test run in 88 degree heat, at a high altitude in the New Mexico desert.

The Border Patrol program had awarded benefits to families after similar training deaths, dating back to an officer who died at an academy in 1988 .

An independent investigation blamed sickle cell trait, a genetic condition that's usually benign but has been linked to rare exertion-related deaths in police, military and sports training.

VR Score

88

Informative language

89

Neutral language

68

Article tone

informal

Language

English

Language complexity

56

Offensive language

possibly offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

not detected

Time-value

short-lived

Source diversity

2

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