Bluffton’s Police Department received $1,500 to donate to the Bluffton schools for safety equipment, according to Ryan Burkholder, police chief.

Police department members Officer Hope Hannah, Lt. Mathew Oglesbee and Chief. Burkholder took an online training course, offered by the Ohio Attorney General Office, to help keep children safe while learning. 

Called Ohio School Threat Assessment Training, the course focuses on how schools can form their own threat assessment teams, which are made up of school personnel, mental health professionals and law enforcement.
 
“The main goal is to work with students who have exhibited concerning behaviors or made threats of violence,” said Burkholder. “The final installment of the training examines how law enforcement can conduct vulnerability assessments of schools in their jurisdiction.”
 
The Ohio Legislature appropriated $24 million for the Attorney General’s Office to provide school safety grants during fiscal years 2020 and 2021. 

In 2020, $10 million in grants are available for schools and $2 million is available for Ohio School Threat Assessment Training grants to law enforcement. 

In 2021, $11 million in school safety grants will be available along with $1 million in law enforcement grants for school building vulnerability assessments.
 
School resource officers, D.A.R.E. officers and other law enforcement with K-12 school safety responsibilities are currently eligible to receive payment for taking the Ohio School Threat Assessment Training and will be eligible for vulnerability assessment grants beginning in July.