An area community is one of five to receive a portion of grant funding totaling more than $912,000 to reduce school violence. The City of Breckenridge received $120,593 for school violence prevention. Other schools in the region receiving funding include Raytown, Warsaw, Stoutland and Lawson.
These five school districts in the Western District of Missouri received grants from the Department of Justice, in addition, a $999,372 grant awarded to the Missouri Department of Public Safety.
The United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, Tim Garrison, announced the grants meant to bolster school security. The grants funding is to educate and train students and faculty and to support first responders who arrive on the scene of a school shooting or other violent incident.
Garrison says “These STOP School Violence grants help provide the resources schools need to protect students, including partnering with local law enforcement.”
Attorney General William P. Barr says “These federal resources will help to prevent school violence and give our students the support they need to learn, grow, and thrive. By training faculty, students and first responders, and by improving school security measures, we can make schools and their communities safer.”
The grant funding is meant to be used to assist the school districts in the following areas.
- Coordination with law enforcement;
- Training for local law enforcement officers to prevent student violence against others and themselves;
- Metal detectors, locks, lighting, and other deterrent measures;
- Technology for expedited notification of local law enforcement during an emergency;
- Any other measure that the COPS Office determines may provide a significant improvement in security.
