Speak Up

The Bureau of Justice Assistance’s (BJA) Student, Teachers, and Officers Preventing (STOP) School Violence Act Program (SSV Program) furthers the Department of Justice’s mission by supporting and assisting state, local, territorial, and tribal jurisdictions efforts to reduce violent crime through the creation of school threat assessment teams, the use of technology for anonymously reporting suspicious activity as it relates to violence in schools, and by supporting the creation and enhancement of State School Safety Centers in K-12 schools.

The objective of Category 7 is to implement a technological solution, such as an anonymous reporting technology, that can be implemented as a mobile phone-based app, a hotline, or a website in the applicant’s geographic area designed to enable students, teachers, faculty, and community members to anonymously identify threats of school violence. That technology will enable teachers and school staff, students, and community members to anonymously report potential threats against individuals, schools, or other entities within a school district or the community in general. The solution should consider existing resources available in the area, new technology, or any combination of the two that can be used to proactively identify threats that would endanger teachers, students, administrators, public safety officers, or members of the community. This technology may be in the form of an app, hotline, or website or a combination of all of the above. The proposed technology solution should be used to help prevent incidents before they occur.

CA/NCF