Anzen Commits to Safe Schools with New Program Aimed at Reducing Violence in the Classroom

CEO Jackie Santisteban says enough to school violence with a radical new program aimed at prevention, not reaction. "Our goal is to build a community of schools that do not fear the possibility of violence, but instead, embrace the fact that they are confident in preventing the situation when signs of violence appear," Santisteban continued. "The world is a different place today, levels of violence occur more often than people realize. Anzen is here to reduce those numbers."

Washington, D.C. (PRWEB) April 4, 2008 -- Anzen, LLC announced today that they are launching their newest initiative, USA Safe Schools, in order to improve the safety within our Nation's educational institutions. CEO Jackie Santisteban has seen the improvement in the emergency response to school incidents, but remains frustrated that the violence continues to happen. For the USA Safe Schools program, Anzen has redesigned their awareness curriculum with the school environment in mind. A blended approach to training will provide teachers and students with the core skills necessary to prevent the incidents, not just to respond to them. They further announced that they are offering vulnerability assessments to qualifying schools at no charge.

According to CEO Jackie Santisteban, the improvement in the emergency response to school incidents is a very positive sign that communities are becoming more engaged with the problem of school violence, and that USA Safe School's offering can help school communities increase their overall level of readiness for incidents of violence and staff misconduct.

"At the University of Northern Illinois, emergency responders made it to the scene in less than four minutes," said Santisteban. "That is an incredible response time; however, at Anzen, we believe that the first 3 to 4 minutes are critical in saving lives. The USA Safe Schools Program is about recognizing and preventing the potential of violence before it happens, and giving people the methodology to stop it." We believe that by training teachers and support staff Situational Awareness, we empower them to take control during that first 3 to 4 minutes.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, crime incidents were reported in 96 percent of the high schools, 94 percent of the middle schools and 74 percent of the elementary schools in 2006. They found that 78 percent of school resource officers had taken weapons from students during that year. There were 42,000 burglaries, 3,700 forcible sex offenses, 7,000 aggravated assaults, and 48 murders reported on college campuses in 2003, all according to the US Department of Education Statistics.

In response to this growing threat of violence on schools and college campuses, Anzen has created a membership program where schools can join and take advantage of reduced costs for assessments, seminars, online training modules, and security equipment. For a limited time, Anzen has pledged to provide a free vulnerability assessment, performed by their highly trained security experts, to qualifying schools. All schools wishing to participate should immediately contact Anzen for consideration.

"Our goal is to build a community of schools that do not fear the possibility of violence, but instead, embrace the fact that they are confident in preventing the situation when signs of violence appear," Santisteban continued. "The world is a different place today, levels of violence occur more often than people realize. Anzen is here to reduce those numbers."

Anzen LLC is a highly respected security consulting and advisory firm based out of the Washington, D.C. region. The President and C.E.O., Jackie Santisteban, is a mother of three, a U.S. Navy CDR (ret), veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and was an active member of the P.T.A. and Site Council at her daughters' school.

The company instructor cadre is comprised of former military Special Forces, FBI, CIA, and Law Enforcement. They are complimented by education consultants and teachers working with the USA Safe School program. Their course catalog currently provides organizations with force protection and counter terrorism courses, travel security training and as well as training for military units on close quarter combat.

http://www.anzenllc.com

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