TEXAS, USA — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is directing an active shooter training center to provide training to all Texas school districts before the next school year.
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The directive comes after the Uvalde school shooting that left 19 students and two teachers dead at Robb Elementary School.
In a letter to the ALERRT Center at Texas State University, Abbott said the state can benefit from the center's expertise.
In 2013, ALERRT was named the gold standard in active shooter response training by the FBI.
"We sadly recognize we cannot do anything to bring back previous lives that were taken," Abbott wrote in the letter. "However, we must do everything in our power to prevent the same tragic ending from happening again."
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Abbott requests that ALERRT debrief school administrators, law enforcement personnel and other school safety decision-makers to prioritize school-based law enforcement training.
Abbott also said the training must start before the next school year begins.
ALERRT is designed for first responders to use effective strategies in response to active attacks, according to their website.
They've trained over 200,000 first responders nationwide with their 16-hour program. The training includes team movement, room entry techniques, shooting and moving, and how to approach the crisis.
The letter to ALERRT comes days after Abbott requested state leaders form a special legislative committee, but stopped short of calling for a special legislative session.
"I request that these committees review what steps previous legislatures have enacted, what resources the State has made available to local school districts, and make recommendations to the Legislature and the Executive Branch so that meaningful action can be made on, among other things, the following topics to prevent future school shootings:
- School safety
- Mental health
- Social media
- Police training
- Firearm safety
It is important the process begins immediately," Abbott wrote.
Abbott recently requested a complete safety review of Texas public schools -- including random, unannounced security checks -- in the wake of the Uvalde school shooting.