Carper, Coons, Carney announce more than $260,000 for school safety

WILMINGTON, Del. – U.S. Senators Tom Carper and Chris Coons, and Representative John Carney (all D-Del.) today announced a total of $260,473 for the Delaware State Police from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS). This funding, which was awarded on Thursday, is part of COPS’ Secure Our Schools grant program to help local law enforcement agencies work with schools in responding to growing safety and security concerns.

“Parents trust that their children will be safe while they are at school,” Senator Carper said. “This grant will not only help to ensure students will be safe at school so they are free to concentrate on learning, but also forge key ties between parents, students, community members and the police. It takes a combination of factors in the community working together to keep our children out of harm’s way and on the right path, and this grant works to bring those factors together for the greater good of our students.”

“Every day, Delaware parents send their children to school trusting that school officials are providing their children with a safe, nurturing learning environment,” Senator Coons said. “This program encourages Delaware’s law enforcement agencies to work in collaboration with our educators, parents, and students to increase school safety. As a senator and a father of three young children, I am always looking for ways to keep kids safe and I firmly believe that our children are best served when our community works together.”

“Keeping our children and educators safe in our schools is a top priority,” Congressman Carney said. “The COPS program gives law enforcement agencies the tools they need to collaborate with local educators and parents to implement best practices that protect our children and ensure they are learning in a safe, positive environment.”

The Securing Our Schools grants are awarded to state and local governments that work in close partnership with public schools to improve school safety. Successful programs are based on a comprehensive safety assessment that identifies the individual needs of the schools, and law enforcement agencies receiving funding will collaborate with school administrators, teachers, students, and parents to implement solutions to school safety challenges. By supporting these community policing partnerships, the Secure Our Schools program helps protect children and prevent school-related violence in their communities.

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