[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 1857-1858]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           SCHOOL SAFETY AND LAW ENFORCEMENT IMPROVEMENT ACT

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, it has now been nearly 10 months since the 
horrific incident at Virginia Tech resulted in the tragic deaths of 32 
students and faculty members, and serious injuries to many other 
innocent victims. During that time, we have witnessed a barrage of new 
incidents involving threatening conduct and, too often, deadly acts of 
violence at our schools and college campuses nationwide.
  Just in the last few days tragedy has struck at one of our Nation's 
high schools and on a university campus. Today's press reports indicate 
that a student at Mitchell High School in Memphis, TN, is in critical 
condition after a violent incident in the school's cafeteria. Just this 
past Friday, a female student killed two other women, and then herself, 
inside a classroom on the campus of Louisiana Technical College in 
Baton Rouge. This terrible incident could easily have been even more 
deadly: there were nearly 20 people in the classroom at the time.
  The Senate has so far failed to take up and pass the School Safety 
and Law Enforcement Improvement Act of 2007, S. 2084, which the 
Judiciary Committee reported last September to help improve school 
safety. This comprehensive legislation should be considered and passed 
without further delay.
  In originating the bill over 6 months ago, the Judiciary Committee 
showed deference to Governor Tim Kaine and the task forces at work in 
Virginia, and sought to complement their work and recommendations. 
Working with several Senators, including Senators Boxer, Reed, Specter, 
Feingold, Schumer, and Durbin, the committee originated this bill and 
reported it at the start of the 2007 academic year. My hope was that 
Congress would adopt these critical school safety improvements last 
fall.
  Since this bill passed out of the Judiciary Committee, we have seen 
tragedy at Louisiana Technical College, Delaware State, University of 
Memphis, SuccessTech Academy in Cleveland, OH, as well as incidents in 
California, New York, Pennsylvania, and Oregon, to name just a few. I, 
again, urge the Senate to proceed to consider this comprehensive 
package of school safety measures. It includes sensible yet effective 
safety improvement measures supported by law enforcement across the 
country. We should be doing all that we can to help.
  Last October, a troubled student wearing a Fred Flintstone mask and 
carrying a rifle through campus was arrested at St. John's University 
in Queens, NY, prompting authorities to lock down the campus for 3 
hours. The day after that incident, an armed 17- year-old on the other 
side of the country in Oroville, CA, held students hostage at Las 
Plumas High School, also resulting in a lock-down. Around that same 
time, an armed student suspected of plotting a Columbine-style attack 
on fellow high school students was arrested in Norristown, PA. The 
students in these situations were lucky and escaped without injury.
  University of Memphis student Taylor Bradford was not so lucky. He 
was killed on campus last September in what university officials 
believe was a targeted attack. He was 21 years old. Shalita Middleton 
was not so lucky. She died last October from injuries she sustained 
during the Delaware State incident. She was 17 years old. Nathaniel Pew 
was not so lucky. He was wounded at Delaware State. High school 
teachers Michael Grassie and David Kachadourian and students Michael 
Peek and Darnell Rodgers--all of whom were wounded by a troubled 
student at SuccessTech Academy last October--were not so lucky. And the 
two female students killed this past Friday in Baton Rouge were not so 
lucky.
  The School Safety and Law Enforcement Improvement Act responds 
directly to incidents like these by addressing the problem of violence 
in our schools in several ways. The bill authorizes Federal assistance 
for programs to improve the safety and security of our schools and 
institutions of higher education, provides equitable benefits to law 
enforcement serving those institutions including bulletproof vests, and 
funds pilot programs to develop cutting-edge prevention and 
intervention programs for our schools. The bill also clarifies and 
strengthens two existing statutes--the Terrorist Hoax Improvements Act 
and the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act--which are designed to 
improve public safety.
  Specifically, the bill would improve the safety and security of 
students both at the elementary and secondary school level and on 
college and university campuses. The K-12 improvements are drawn from a 
bill that Senator Boxer introduced last April, and I want to thank 
Senator Boxer for her hard work on this issue. The improvements include 
increased funding for much-needed infrastructure changes to improve 
security as well as the establishment of hotlines and tip-lines, which 
will enable students to report potentially dangerous situations to 
school administrators before they occur.
  These improvements can save lives. After the four students and 
teachers were wounded at SuccessTech Academy, the press reported that 
parents had been petitioning to get a metal detector installed and 
additional security personnel added, and that the guard who was 
previously assigned to the school had been removed 3 years ago. In 
fact, at the time, the entire city of Cleveland had just 10 metal 
detectors that rotated throughout the city's more than 100 schools. 
Title I of the bill would enhance the ability of school districts to 
apply for and receive grant money to fund the installation of metal 
detectors and the training and hiring of security personnel to keep our 
kids safe.
  To address the new realities of campus safety in the wake of Virginia 
Tech and more recent college incidents, title I also creates a matching 
grant program for campus safety and security to be administered out of 
the COPS Office of the Department of Justice. The grant program would 
allow institutions of higher education to apply, for the first time, 
directly for Federal funds to make school safety and security 
improvements. The program is authorized to be appropriated at 
$50,000,000 for the next 2 fiscal years. While this amounts to just $3 
per student each year, it will enable schools to more effectively 
respond to dangerous situations on campus.
  The bill would also make sworn law enforcement officers who work for 
private institutions of higher education and rail carriers eligible for 
death and disability benefits, and for funds administered under the 
Byrne Grant program and the bulletproof vest partnership grant program. 
Providing this equitable treatment is in the best interest of our 
Nation's educators and students and will serve to place the support of 
the Federal Government behind

[[Page 1858]]

the dedicated law enforcement officers who serve and protect private 
colleges and universities nationwide. I commend Senator Jack Reed for 
his leadership in this area.
  The bill helps law enforcement by making improvements to the Law 
Enforcement Officers Safety Act of 2003, LEOSA. These amendments to 
existing law will streamline the system by which qualified retired and 
active officers can be certified under LEOSA. It serves us all when we 
permit qualified officers, with a demonstrated commitment to law 
enforcement and no adverse employment history, to protect themselves, 
their families, and their fellow citizens wherever those officers may 
be.
  The bill focuses on prevention as well, by incorporating the 
PRECAUTION Act at the request of Senators Feingold and Specter. This 
provision authorizes grants to develop prevention and intervention 
programs for our schools.
  Finally, the bill incorporates the Terrorist Hoax Improvements Act of 
2007, at the request of Senator Kennedy.
  The Senate should move forward and act. The Virginia Tech Review 
Panel--a body commissioned by Governor Kaine to study the Virginia Tech 
tragedy--recently issued its findings based on a 4-month long 
investigation of the incident and its aftermath. This bill would adopt 
a number of recommendations from the Review Panel aimed at improving 
school safety. We must not miss this opportunity to implement these 
initiatives nationwide, and to take concrete steps to ensure the safety 
of our kids. I hope the Senate will promptly move forward to invest in 
the safety of our students and better support law enforcement officers 
across the country by considering and passing the School Safety and Law 
Enforcement Improvement Act of 2007.

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