ALERRT Center receives $8.7M federal grant to fund training

The ALLERRT Center (Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training) has received an $8.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice.

The money, from the USDJ’s office of Community Oriented Policing Services, was announced earlier this week in Grapevine. It will be used to provide multi-disciplinary, scenario-based active shooter training to first responders across the country.

The investment will provide in-person training to an estimated 15,000 first responders, in addition to the 9,000 individuals that received the training in 2017. ALERRT and the COPS Office are currently developing an online civilian training program, which will reach tens of thousands of citizens – helping to prepare them to take effective actions if they should find themselves in an attack.

The announcement took place during the 9th Annual ALERRT Active Shooter Integrated Response Conference, where emergency personnel heard from subject matter experts about best practices and lessons learned from some of the nation’s most tragic and horrific mass casualty events. The national conference concluded Saturday.

Physician stakeholders working in the fields of emergency medicine, trauma surgery, anesthesia, blood bank, critical care and blood collection center directors joined law enforcement, fire services, EMS, emergency communications and emergency management for the first time during this year’s ALERRT conference. ALERRT’s multi-disciplinary approach is recognized as one of the nation’s leading training models.

The ALERRT Center was created as a partnership between Texas State, the San Marcos Police Department and the Hays County Sheriff’s Office to address the need for active shooter response training for first responders. In 2013, ALERRT was named the National Standard in Active Shooter Response Training by the FBI.

Pete Blair, executive director of ALERRT at Texas State said, “This funding, through the POLICE Act, will allow ALERRT to provide the training needed to prepare police, fire, EMS services across the country to save as many lives as possible when these horrific attacks occur.”

The COPS Office awards grants to hire community policing officers, develop and test innovative policing strategies, and provide training and technical assistance to community members, local government leaders, and all levels of law enforcement. Since 1994, the COPS Office has invested more than $14 billion to help advance com- munity policing. For more information on the COPS Office, visit cops.usdoj.gov.

-Submitted by Texas State University