Florida Department of Law Enforcement Awards New College $75K for Campus Security

(May 24) -- New College of Florida officials learned this week that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) has earmarked $75,000 for the College to enhance campus security.

The funding, which comes via federal grant money provided to the State from the Department of Homeland Security's Law Enforcement Terrorism Prevention Program (LETPP), will be used to expand and upgrade New College's “blue light” emergency telephone system; install and subscribe to a text messaging system to provide timely emergency communications with students, faculty and staff; and purchase and install a loudspeaker warning system on campus. A portion of the funds also will be used to install a loud speaker system on the grounds of the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee campus. The USF Sarasota-Manatee campus is served by the New College Police Department as part of a shared service agreement between the two schools.

Each of the new security measures to be undertaken by New College has been recommended by experts in the wake of the shootings that occurred on the campus of Virginia Tech University in April. Those shootings, which resulted in the deaths of 33 students and faculty, brought heightened attention to security practices and equipment in place on college campuses across the country.

New College officials applied for the grant money earlier this month and were notified of the award via a letter from the FDLE's Office of Criminal Justice Grants dated May 15.

The LETPP grant program was created by the Department of Homeland Security in 2005 to provide state and local law enforcement communities with funds to support terrorist prevention activities within their jurisdictions. New College hopes to receive its portion of the funds later this summer and to complete the purchase and installation of the new security and emergency systems by the end of the current calendar year.