Police department applies for grant to aid school safety
Posted on Sunday, July 13, 2008
Fayetteville police are working with local schools to keep students safer.
Police Chief Greg Tabor said the police department, along with the Fayetteville School District, is currently awaiting approval of a federal grant that would furnish schools with surveillance equipment capable of being viewed by 911 dispatch operators. Additionally, the funding would equip school resource officers with new software, giving police an internal view of the school building.
"Let's say there's an incident inside the school," Tabor said. "The officers with the new software would be able to see diagrams within the building and know which room they need to go to. "
The Secure Our Schools Grant program is sponsored by the Community Oriented Policing division of the Department of Justice. Approximately $ 13 million is available to provide funding to law enforcement agencies to assist with the development of school safety resources and provide improved secur ity at schools.
"I'm in charge of our [school district's ] Goal No. 7, which is safety in the schools," Ginny Wiseman, associate superintendent for Fayetteville Public Schools, said. "Over the years, I've been proactive in providing assistance to schools to make them safer. One avenue would be new security cameras, particularly in the high school. Some of the ones they have now are outdated, and we need to add more cameras outside."
In addition to new cameras and software, Wiseman said the Secure Our Schools program would fund specialized training for teachers and principals and provide security wands, PDA systems and breathalyzers, which would be used during special school events. The grant will fund up to 50 percent of the total cost to implement any measure that provides a significant improvement to school security.
"The City Council approved us applying for it and the money coming out of the fund balance about two months ago," Tabor said. "If the grant gets approved, then we'll have to go before the City Council again."
The Secure Our Schools Grant program is open to all law enforcement agencies nationwide that have primary law enforcement authority within a partner primary or secondary school. Funding decisions will be based upon the quality of applications received.
If approved, Tabor said the school and the city would fund 50 percent of the grant, with the school paying $ 50, 000 and the city paying $ 37, 176 for a total amount of $ 87, 325. The other half of the funding would be paid for through the grant.
Programs and initiatives developed by the COPS Office, such as the Secure Our Schools grant, have provided funding to more than 13, 000 law enforcement agencies nationwide. The COPS Office provides funding to state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies and other public and private entities to hire and train community policing professionals, acquire and deploy cuttingedge, crime-fighting technologies and develop innovative policing strategies.
"This was just a good way for us to enhance what we're doing at the schools with the resource officers," Tabor said. "The safer we can make our schools, the better off we'll be."
Tabor said implementation of the new security equipment depends on if and when the grant is approved.
According to the COPS Office Response Center, notifications will be distributed in mid-August with a projected start date of Sept. 1.
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