WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Clay Higgins (R-LA) will reintroduce the School Resource Officer Assessment Act and the School Watch and Tactics (SWAT) Act, two bills that would strengthen school safety standards and protect students and teachers.
The School Resource Officer Assessment Act, which passed the House in 2018, directs the U.S. Attorney General and Secretary of Education to gather data regarding the number and deployment status of school resource officers across the country. The SWAT Act would establish national training standards for school resource officers, including active shooter response and other best practices to safeguard America’s schools.
Earlier this month, Congressman Higgins notified state and local leaders of federal funding opportunities through the Department of Justice’s School Violence Prevention Program. More information on these school safety grants is available here.
Congressman Higgins issued the following statement:
“We must take action to harden America’s schools against violent threats. Every school district in the country should have a sufficient number of highly-skilled, tactically-trained school resource officers to protect our kids and teachers. This is why I’m reintroducing legislation to help equip our schools with law enforcement assets and to implement enhanced training standards for school resource officers. We have been pushing these initiatives since coming to Congress in 2017, and we will continue working to secure America’s schools.”
