ALERRT Center awarded $8.7 million Department of Justice grant

The Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) Center at Texas State University has received a $8.7 million grant from the United States Department of Justice's Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Preparing for Active Shooter Situations (PASS) program.

The grant will support ALERRT's Integrated Response Training Program, which provides training across the country to improve rapid response to active shooter events.

"This grant will allow us to prepare law enforcement, fire and EMS personnel across the country to respond to active shooter events through integrated training," said Pete Blair, executive director of the ALERRT Center. 

The PASS program is designed to increase public safety by providing funds for scenario-based training that prepares officers and other first responders to safely and effectively handle active-shooter and other violent threats. PASS-funded projects provide training to meet the goal of the 2016 Protecting Our Lives by Initiating COPS Expansion (POLICE) Act by offering "scenario-based, integrated response courses designed to counter active shooter threats or acts of terrorism against individuals or facilities."

ALERRT received $8.6 and $5.4 million grants through the POLICE Act in 2018 and 2017, respectively.