MONTGOMERY — Gov. Kay Ivey has awarded $15,000 to help improve safety in several south-central Alabama schools.

The award to Central Alabama Crimestoppers will provide training for 40 school resource officers in Montgomery, Autauga, Butler, Crenshaw, Elmore, Lowndes, Macon, Pike and Tallapoosa counties. School resource officers who complete the training this summer will receive certification.

“Our schools are for learning, and no student should have to walk the halls fearing for their safety,” Ivey said. “This program will ensure that school resource officers have the training and the know-how to enforce school safety and how to ward off any threats of violence or inappropriate behavior.”

The National Association of School Resource Officers will conduct most of the training. Central Alabama Crimestoppers, which applied for the training grant last fall, will also instruct school resource officers on its tip reward and gun deterrent programs which enable students to report school safety violations to authorities. 

The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs is administering the grant from funds made available to the state from the U.S. Department of Justice.

“ADECA is pleased to join with Gov. Ivey in supporting this program that will make our schools safer and defuse any possible violent situations,” ADECA Director Kenneth Boswell said.

ADECA administers a wide range of programs that support law enforcement, victim programs, economic development, water resource management, energy conservation and recreation.

-30- 

Contact: Jim Plott, Mike Presley