WINONA – The Mississippi Department of Education announced this week that the Winona-Montgomery Consolidated School District was awarded $20,000 in grant funding from the Mississippi Community Oriented Policing Services in Schools Grant (MCOPS). The funds will be used for training of the school resource officers in the Winona-Montgomery Consolidated School District Police Department.
“We are so excited to have been awarded funds to provide continued and advanced training to the district’s school resource officers, Chief Mac Burrell and Officer Dan Herod,” said Dr. Teresa Jackson, Superintendent of Education. “Just as our educators require continued education to better serve the students in the classroom, our school resource officers require annual training to keep up-to-date with the newest methods and protocols to protect our students, faculty, and staff.”
The MCOPS grant program was established by the Mississippi Legislature to aid school resource officers in the state with matching grant funds to be used for various projects.
The goals of the MCOPS program are to increase the number of School Resource Officers (SROs) by:
- Increasing or enhancing community policing in this state.
- Providing SROs to play an integral part in the development and/or enhancement of a comprehensive school safety plan.
- Providing a direct link between the school and local emergency responders.