The North Judson-San Pierre School Corporation has been awarded a federal grant.
It was announced during last month’s board meeting, the corporation had been awarded a COPS grant through the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS). The total amount the corporation will receive is $350,000 including the corporation’s 25 percent match.
North Judson-San Pierre School Resource Officer Chris Kisela told WKVI News he had applied for the COPS grant last summer in hopes to update the school’s security. He said security is outdated in certain areas compared to what is now being used in other school corporations.
New cameras, directional signage, door sensors to detect open doors longer than 30 seconds, environmental camera sensors to detect noise disturbances were all part of the update described by Officer Kisela. Some of the technology updates include recognition software that allows cameras to follow suspicious intruders who may arrive.
Kisela says the updates will be a big factor in deterring intruders, “It’s hard to prevent everything but to harden your target more you are more likely to prevent something happening. The softer you are as a target then there is more of a possibility something could happen. Adding additional steps to not only having an SRO in a school and administrators that are more than willing to jump on board and beef up their security helps protect the students a whole lot more.”
Kisela went on to say North Judson-San Pierre is only one of three school corporations in Indiana to receive the federal grant this year.
