This “Fact Sheet” of the U.S. Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) presents an overview of its Student, Teachers, and Officers Preventing (STOP) School Violence Program; eligible projects for STOP grants; and the entities that may apply for a STOP grant.
The intent of the federal STOP School Violence Act of 2018 is to improve school security by providing students and teachers with the tools they need to recognize, respond quickly to, and prevent violence in schools. Both BJA and the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) offer STOP grants for eligible projects. Types of projects eligible for a STOP grant include those that train school personnel and students in preventing violence against others and themselves, the development of technology-based systems to prevent and respond to violence in schools, the development and operations of school threat assessment and intervention teams, and any measure determined by the BJA Director to improve responses to and prevention of violence on school grounds. Entities that may apply for a STOP grant include states, units of local government, federally recognized Indian tribes, public agencies, and nonprofit entities such as private schools.