ALERRT awarded $11 million to train first responders in active shooter scenarios

INSIDE TXST

Jayme Blaschke | November 9, 2023

The Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) Center at Texas State University has received an $11 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice's Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Preparing for Active Shooter Situations (PASS) program.

The grant will support ALERRT’s Integrated Response Training Program, which provides scenario-based training that prepares officers and other first responders to safely and effectively handle active-shooter and other violent threats.

Since 2017, COPS Office funding through the PASS program has provided active shooter training for more than 14,000 first responders across the nation. The new grant will fund training for roughly 26,000 additional first responders.

“This grant will allow us to prepare law enforcement, fire and EMS personnel across the country to respond to active shooter events through integrated training,” said Pete Blair, executive director of the ALERRT Center. 

The PASS program is designed to increase public safety by providing funds for scenario-based training that prepares officers and other first responders to respond to violent threats in their communities. PASS-funded projects provide training to meet the goal of the 2016 Protecting Our Lives by Initiating COPS Expansion (POLICE) Act by offering “scenario-based, integrated response courses designed to counter active shooter threats or acts of terrorism against individuals or facilities.”

ALERRT 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. The FBI recognizes the ALERRT Level I program as the national standard in active shooter response training.