RICHMOND, Va. - Over $600,000 has been awarded to the Department of Criminal Justice Services to implement a crisis management enhancement project in the state's schools.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced that the DCJS has been awarded $631,262 in competitive federal funding from the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) School Violence Prevention Program.
The funding will be used to implement a crisis management enhancement project. According to Youngkin, the goal of the project is to increase communication and coordination and improve information sharing between law enforcement and school officials in order to increase school safety and sustainability planning efforts.
“I am pleased to see Virginia developing stronger school-law enforcement partnerships,” said Governor Glenn Youngkin. “This funding will have a significant impact on the safety and wellbeing of our school communities in Virginia.”
DCJS will lead the project along with other state agencies, including the Virginia Department of Education and Virginia State Police.
Initiatives will include the:
- Development and implementation of a uniformed, statewide crisis management plan training curriculum;
- Development of a Virginia-specific mobile crisis planning application;
- Automation of the Virginia School Safety Inspection Checklist; and
- Development of age-appropriate and role-specific training videos on evidence-based response techniques to crisis events.
The DCJS Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety has also received new and updated resources. The Division Guide for Crisis Management Planning is a six-step guide to forming and implementing crisis management plans. The newly developed Virginia Safety Planning Guide for Individuals with Special Needshelps Virginia schools cultivate strategies that meet diverse safety needs. The updated Virginia Educator’s Guide for Planning and Conducting School Emergency Drills is designed to give faculty and staff that interact with students daily, the hands-on information they need to practice drills.
For more information about the DCJS Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety click here.
Related: Gov. Youngkin announces $6.5 million in funding to support new school safety law
