DOJ COPS Grant Awarded to Central Falls

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AWARDS MORE THAN $85.3 MILLION IN GRANTS TO ADDRESS SCHOOL VIOLENCE

Central Falls schools awarded $337,000

WASHINGTON – Today, the Department of Justice announced it has awarded more than $85.3 million to bolster school security—including funding to educate and train students and faculty—and support first responders who arrive on the scene of a school shooting or other violent incident.

“These federal resources will help to prevent school violence and give our students the support they need to learn, grow, and thrive,’ said Attorney General William P. Barr. “By training faculty, students and first responders, and by improving school security measures, we can make schools and their communities safer.”

“The Central Falls school district works hard every day to ensure students have a safe environment where they can thrive,” noted United States Attorney Aaron L. Weisman. “This grant will provide monies for additional tools and resources for increased safety and coordination with law enforcement.”

The grants award more than $337,000 in funding to prevent violence in schools in Central Falls. President Trump signed the STOP School Violence Act into law in March 2018, authorizing grants that are designed to improve threat assessments, train students and faculty to provide tips and leads, and prepare law enforcement officers and emergency professionals to respond to school shootings and other violent incidents. The grant programs are managed by OJP’s Bureau of Justice Assistance and the Justice Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.

The Bureau of Justice Assistance, within the Department’s Office of Justice Programs, and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services manage the programs and administer the grants, which include funds to:

Develop school threat assessment teams and pursue technological solutions to improve reporting of suspicious activity in and around schools;
Implement or improve school safety measures, including coordination with law enforcement, as well as the use of metal detectors, locks, lighting and other deterrent measures;
Train law enforcement to help deter student violence against others and themselves;
Improve notification to first responders through implementation of technology that expedites emergency notifications;
Develop and operate anonymous reporting systems to encourage safe reporting of potential school threats;
Train school officials to intervene when mentally ill individuals threaten school safety; and
Provide training and technical assistance to schools and other awardees in helping implement these programs.

For more details about these individual award programs, as well as listings of individual 2019 awardees, visit https://go.usa.gov/xVJuV