ALERRT Center receives $9.8 million for active shooter training

The Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center at Texas State University was awarded $9.8 million to support its Integrated Response Training Program.

ALERRT was granted the funds through the U.S. Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Preparing for Active Shooter Situations (PASS) program. ALERRT’s Integrated Response Training Program equips police officers and first responders with scenario-based training to safely and effectively handle active-shooter and other violent threats, Texas State said.

“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,” ALERRT Center Executive Director Pete Blair said.

The COPS Office’s funding through the PASS program has provided active shooter training for approximately 55,000 first responders throughout the United States since 2017. Texas State said approximately 16,755 additional first responders will be trained through the new grant.

The PASS program aims to increase public safety by administering funds for scenario-based training that equips officers and first responders with violent threat preparation. PASS-funded projects provide training to meet the goal of the 2016 Protecting Our Lives by Initiating COPS Expansion (POLICE) Act by “scenario-based, integrated response courses designed to counter active shooter threats or acts of terrorism against individuals or facilities,” Texas State said.

ALERRT was created as a partnership between Texas State, the San Marcos Police Department and the Hays County Sheriff’s Office in an effort to address the need for active shooter training for first responders. Texas State said ALERRT has been named “the national standard in active shooter response training by the FBI.”