$2 Million in Grants for South Dakota School Security

• The Noem Administration Receives Nearly $2 Million in Grants for School Security
• Grants funding will be to increase security in schools.
• Money cannot be used to purchase weapons or salaries for resource officers.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem Tuesday announced that South Dakota received three grants totaling almost $2 million to help South Dakota school districts prevent and address threats of violence.

According to the Governor's office, the South Dakota Department of Public Safety (DPS) received the grants from the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s STOP School Violence Program. The program is part of the U.S. Department of Justice.

There are three different grants:

• $998,000 – This grant will allow the state to establish a School Safety Resource Center. The center can help distribute best practices for school safety, requests for training for threat recognition, training in establishment of threat adjudication teams, and requests for physical security assessments for K-12 school building.
• $500,000 – This grant will focus on establishing prevention and mental health training programs in conjunction with mental health professionals.
• $500,000 – This grant will focus on technology and threat assessment solutions for safe schools programs.

The grant money cannot be used to purchase weapons, equipment, or fund salaries for School Resource Officers.