§2. Authorization to hire school resource officers under matching grant program for school security
This section expands allowable uses of grants from the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) under the school security grant program (34 USC 10551) to include three new purposes in subsection (b)—(9) hiring school resource officers (as defined in 34 USC 1709); (10) purchasing firearms and protective equipment for school resource officers; and (11) purchasing vehicles, including all-terrain vehicles, golf carts, scooters, and bicycles, for school resource officers—while leaving Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) grants limited to existing purposes in paragraphs (1) through (4). (As background, the program authorizes matching grants to states, units of local government, and Indian tribes for evidence-based measures to improve security at schools and on school grounds.) It further requires the Attorney General to provide technical assistance under 34 USC 10552(c) to states, units of local government, and Indian tribes to improve access to these grants for rural and geographically underserved areas and directs an annual report to Congress under 34 USC 10553(a) to address how such assistance has improved access.