DENVER — The Department of Justice has awarded $1,043,855 in grants to help Colorado schools address school violence, according to United States Attorney Jason R. Dunn.
Of the roughly $1 million, $999,987 will come from the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s program called STOP School Violence and will go to the Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. This will help schools support school administrators, staff, students and first responders with threat assessments, crisis intervention teams, and anonymous reporting technology, according to the press release from Dunn.
The remaining $43,868 will go to the Hayden School District RE1, which is east of the city of Craig. This part of the grant comes from the the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services for School Violence Prevention.
These grants are part of a much bigger announcement from the Department of Justice: More than $85.3 million has been awarded to bolster school security across the country, according to the press release.
“The Department of Justice continues to recognize the importance of providing funds to proactively address school shootings,” Dunn said. “Students should feel safe in their school and in their classrooms. This grant is an important step to making sure they feel safe and are safe.”
Attorney General William P. Barr added that these federal resources will help prevent school violence and allow students the opportunity 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," he said.
In March 2018, President Donald Trump signed the STOP School Violence Act into law, 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," according to the press release.
These grant programs are managed by the Office of Justice Programs' Bureau of Justice Assistance and the Justice Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.
