Assemblyman Bucco’s bill – A-5242 – was announced at a news conference Tuesday at the Morris County Office of Emergency Management in Parsippany, with Sheriff Gannon, Morris County Prosecutor Fredric M. Knapp, Morris County Police Chiefs Association President, Butler Police Chief Ciro Chimento, and other law enforcement, education and mental health professional stakeholders present.
Recognizing the priority of keeping schools safe from violence and thwarting potential bloodshed in the pre-attack stage, the proposed legislation would mandate funding the necessary costs for scientifically-sound training for law enforcement, mental health professionals, teachers and other school staff and students to identify, assess and report behaviors that signal potential threats to school safety. The legislation would fund a pilot RSVP-3 program specifically in the counties of Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Morris, Passaic and Union and first class cities of Newark and Jersey City – all part of a designated federal Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) zone.
“This effort here is a multidisciplinary approach to incidences of school violence,” Sheriff Gannon said. “We all know that our most vulnerable populations are in our schools,” he said. “They’re our children, they’re our grandchildren. They’re students. They’re paraprofessionals. They’re administrators and educators. They are people who keep the lights on in the schools and they’re all near and dear to our hearts.”
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