Government Documents, Laws, Testimonies or Reports and Physical Security

The purpose of this primer is to provide the design community and school administrators with the basic principles and techniques to design a school safe from terrorist attacks.

Recently in response to the tragedy at Virginia Tech, Chairman Patrick Leahy of the Senate Judiciary Committee has combined several pre-existing bills into a comprehensive package that would provide for improvements in school safety and law enforcement. This legislation was approved by Committee and is waiting for full consideration by the Senate.

This bill, The School Safety and Law Enforcement Improvement Act of 2007 (SSLEIA), would establish a National Center for Campus Public Safety to foster collaboration among campus safety stakeholders by serving as a focal point for research, model policies and best practices, education, and public policy formulation to enhance the safety and security of U.S. college and university campuses. And it would also establish a $50 million grant program for institutions of higher education to use for their campus public safety offices, in a 50-50 match

The President directed top officials at the Departments of Education, Justice, and Health and Human Services to participate in a federal review of the broad questions raised by the shooting tragedy at Virginia Tech.

This report is a review of their findings and includes recommended actions the federal government can take to support state and local communities and ensure that the federal government and federal law are not obstacles to achieving these goals.