The Crime Stoppers Safe School Institute creates a proactive dialogue with students, parents, school staff, and school-based law enforcement about personal and school safety. Crime Stoppers provides students with a safe and anonymous way to report crime and potential dangers on campus. Since its inception, Crime Stoppers Safe School Institute has reached more than 1.2 million students and has assisted law enforcement in solving more than 2,000 cases and removing 300 weapons from Harris County middle and high schools.
In May 2018, Texas Governor Abbott unveiled the “School and Firearm Safety Action Plan” in response to the Santa Fe school shooting. As the largest Crime Stoppers organization in the country, the Texas Criminal Justice Division asked Houston’s Crime Stoppers to roll out the Safe School Program to as many Crime Stoppers organizations across the state, reaching 1,800 school districts. Crime Stoppers made plans to launch a webinar series that would create a national hub for school safety. Topics include cyber and teen dating safety, human trafficking, mental health, substance abuse and more.
The timing was perfect, and with the discussions between Crime Stoppers CEO and Spindletop executive director on how to make this important series happen, the Spindletop Board of Directors approved a $275,000 pledge to underwrite the first-of-its-kind Safe School Institute webinar series. $75,000 donated from the generous OTC grant in 2019 is included in the pledge. This educational series will be far reaching in protecting children from all zip codes.