Rep. Pete Aguilar announced that the San Bernardino City Unified School District (SBCUSD) received $737,520 for school violence-prevention and mental-health support programs and $87,350 for body-worn cameras to help keep SBCUSD police officers and students safe. The grants were administered by the US Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). The funding will be used to help implement Project STAT, an initiative by the SBCUSD Police to help prevent violence within San Bernardino schools.

 “After the tragedy we saw at North Park Elementary School in 2017, it became clear that we need to do more to protect students and faculty at our schools. I’m proud to announce this funding to help support SBCUSD’s mission of keeping our schools safe, and I’ll continue to support federal funding for school-safety programs,” said Rep. Aguilar.

 “The core of the SBCUSD Project STAT is to leverage advanced planning, multi-disciplinary teams, and 21^st Century technology to effectively respond to, but ultimately prevent, incidents of violence in our schools,” said SBCUSD Police Chief  Joseph Paulino.

 Rep. Aguilar serves as Vice Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, the committee responsible for determining funding levels for federal agencies like BJA.