The Security Industry Association (SIA) has expressed strong support for MI HB 5828 and HB5830, two bills designed to improve school security across the state of Michigan. In a letter to Michigan House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations Chairwoman Laura Cox and Vice-Chair Rob VerHeulen, SIA CEO Don Erickson praised the bills’ creation of a comprehensive school plan and fund to enable local districts to procure security solutions to protect students from malicious perpetrators and update building code requirements to include security measures.

“Sadly, our nation’s schools have increasingly become a soft target for mass violence — at Sandy Hook Elementary, recently at Stoneman Douglas High School and in many other attacks,” Erickson said. “We support holistic approaches to improving school safety and security in response to these tragedies — recognizing there is no single action that can be taken that will, by itself, make our schools safe.”

SIA represents about 900 security and life safety solutions providers — companies that develop, manufacture and integrate technologies that help keep people and property safe from hazards. These industry leaders strive to introduce robust security solutions integrated into our nation’s K–12 public schools, private academic institutions, colleges and universities.

In addition to serving member organizations working to improve security in schools and other environments, SIA is a co-founder of the Partner Alliance for Safer Schools (PASS), a consortium of school security experts that developed threat- and income-based guidelines for schools housing grades K–12 to implement appropriate, layered security measures. These guidelines are available to help guide school investments. Additionally, PASS provides integrators with risk assessments and white papers that can be used when working with schools to evaluate and establish the best security protections for their buildings. 

SIA believes state assistance such as that in the Michigan legislation is a start to addressing key security gaps in schools and is especially critical to high-risk school districts or those with limited budgets.

View the full letter here https://www.securityindustry.org/report/letter-support-mi-hb-5828-5830/.