Are Indiana Schools Safe for Our Children?
Indianapolis, IN (PRWEB) July 03, 2013 -- The Indiana Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), an organization that enhances public awareness of law enforcement and public safety issues, is hosting their Fall Conference September 4-5, 2013 at Historic Union Station in Indianapolis, IN. At the IACP Fall Conference, attendees will gain the knowledge to enhance the safety of their schools and learn the tools to prepare their schools for a violent intruder. This conference is designed for law enforcement officials, school officials and educators around the state of Indiana.
Homicide is the second leading cause of death among youth ages 5-18 and between 14 and 34 school-age children are victims of homicide on school grounds on their way to and from school—each and every year, according to a 2011 study done by the Center of Disease Control.
"While the state government is making steps towards creating safer schools in Indiana by passing Senate Bill 1, which established a school resource officer program, and allocating a 20 million dollar budget over two years to school safety, parents and teachers still ask, is this enough?" said Executive Director of the IACP, Michael F. Ward, CAE.
Two of the state’s key personnel working towards safer schools in Indiana will be speaking on the first day of the conference: Greg Zoeller, Indiana Attorney General, and Glenda Ritz, Indiana State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Both will give their own presentations then appear on a panel with John Hill, Executive Director of Homeland Security, Amy Skeens-Benton, Assistant Principal of Carmel Freshman Center, and a Police Chief. This panel will give attendees a variety of perspectives and insights into the current state of Indiana’s school safety and how it can be improved.
The second day of the conference will be dedicated to the A.L.I.C.E. program. A.L.I.C.E. is an acronym for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate. A.L.I.C.E. creator, Greg Crane, will teach attendees ways to prepare, mentally and physically, for a violent intruder in their schools. The A.L.I.C.E. program is designed to give a person, or group of people, who may find themselves in a violent, life threatening situation, some tools that could play a vital role in their survival. The program is designed so that anybody can employ the strategies and emphasizes that one does not have to be police, or military trained, in order to survive a violent encounter. All participants need is a frame of reference to draw from when making life saving decisions under extreme pressure, similar to preparing for a school fire, or an earthquake.
Registration for the IACP’s Fall Conference is now open. To learn more about the conference or to register today, please click here.
About the Indiana Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP)
The mission of the Indiana Association of Chiefs of Police is to promote professionalism, training and networking for the law enforcement executive and to enhance public awareness of law enforcement and public safety issues.
The Indiana Association of Chiefs of Police is an individual member organization consisting of ten local districts within the State of Indiana. Each District has its own elected two-year representative on the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors develops policies and programs for the membership as a whole. To learn more about IACP and membership, please click here.
Michael F. Ward, CAE, Indiana Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), http://iacop.org/, 317.816.1619 Ext: 101, [email protected]
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