INFORMATIONAL

The Governor's Office for Safe and Drug-Free Schools and
Communities has requested that I share information with you about 
the School Resource Officer (SRO) Program.  This new grant
program was announced by Governor Jim Gilmore in his speech at
the Fall Crime Forum on October 21, 1998.

Governor Gilmore has directed $500,000 to be made available to
law enforcement agencies in order to place resource officers in
schools across Virginia.  These funds can be used to train
officers and prepare them to assume their school duties beginning
in January 1999.  An additional $1 million will be made available
for SROs in the next fiscal year.

Applications may be submitted by local law enforcement agencies
only. A partnership agreement signed by the sheriff or police
chief, the local school superintendent, and the principal of the
school to which the SRO will be assigned, must be submitted with
the grant application.

A copy of the memorandum and application that was sent to police
chiefs and sheriffs is enclosed.  Should you have questions about
the application process, please contact Mary-Shea Sutherland,
Director of the Governor's Office for Safe and Drug-Free Schools
and Communities.  Miss Sutherland may be reached by telephone at
(804) 786-9072.

PDS/saj
Attachment:    A hard copy of this memo and its attachments
               will be sent to the superintendent's office.

  cc: SDFSCA School Division Coordinators