Arizona jurisdictions awarded DOJ grants to support school safety
Oct 3, 2018, 4:22 AM
(Department of Justice Facebook Photo)
(Department of Justice Facebook Photo)
PHOENIX — The Department of Justice announced Tuesday that it awarded jurisdictions across the country more than $70 million to support school safety, including about $1.3 million in Arizona.
Several school districts, a city, a town and an education agency in Arizona received funding from the grants.
The STOP School Violence Threat Assessment and Technology Reporting Program helps create threat assessment and crisis intervention teams as well as anonymous reporting systems.
It awarded the Humboldt Unified School District $250,000 and Salt River Pima-Maricopa Community Schools $95,000.
The STOP School Violence Prevention and Mental Health Training Program provides training on preventing violence and responding to mental health needs.
It awarded Gilbert Unified School District almost $97,000, Kyrene Elementary School District $230,000, and the Pinal County School Office Education Service Agency almost $160,000.
The COPS School Violence Prevention Program provides funding for law enforcement training to prevent student violence and technology to improve police notification during an emergency.
The city of Maricopa and the town of Prescott Valley received $147,365 and $121,583, respectively, from this program.
The department also awarded more than $64 million to state agencies in an effort to improve criminal record systems and background checks, and $1 million will go toward researching factors behind mass shootings.
The grants are authorized by the STOP School Violence Act, which was signed into law earlier this year.
“These grants will go a long way toward giving young people and their families both safety and peace of mind,” U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a news release.
