[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 17 (Wednesday, January 28, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E167]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


THE INTRODUCTION OF CENTER TO ADVANCE, MONITOR, AND PRESERVE UNIVERSITY 
                 SECURITY SAFETY ACT OF 2009 (H.R. 748)

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                     HON. ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 28, 2009

  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Speaker, today I rise to introduce the 
Center to Advance, Monitor and Preserve University Security 
(``CAMPUS'') Safety Act of 2009. The purpose of this legislation is to 
enable our institutions of higher education to easily obtain the best 
information available on how to keep our campuses safe and how to 
respond in the event of a campus emergency. The bill creates a National 
Center for Campus Public Safety (``Center''), which will be 
administered through Department of Justice. The Center is designed to 
train campus public safety agencies in state of the art practices to 
assure campus safety, encourage research to strengthen college safety 
and security, and serve as a clearinghouse for the dissemination of 
relevant campus public safety information. The Director of the Center 
will have authority to award grants to institutions of higher learning 
to help them meet their enhanced public safety goals.
  Over the past few years we have seen numerous tragedies occur at 
colleges and universities, including the disastrous events that 
occurred at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University. 
Unfortunately, because these events were the first of their kind for 
the schools, the Administrators were not fully knowledgeable on the 
best practices to prevent the tragedies and how to respond in the 
aftermath. We therefore must assist our institutions of higher learning 
to keep campuses safe.
  The CAMPUS Safety Act will help institutions of higher learning 
understand how to prevent such tragedies from occurring, and how to 
respond in case they do.
  I urge my colleagues to cosponsor and support this important 
legislation to ensure that the institutions of higher education have 
access to information on how to keep their schools safe.

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