NAPO Washington Reports

Executive Actions to Reduce Violence Meeting

February 27, 2013

On January 16th, 2013, President Obama announced his plan to protect schools and communities by reducing armed violence.  In addition to calling for specific legislative action, the President announced that the Administration is taking 23 executive actions to reduce violence, including an executive action to create model emergency management plans for schools, institutions of higher education, and houses of worship, and to provide best practices for training students and staff to follow these plans.  

The Departments of Homeland Security, Education, Justice, and Health and Human Services are currently working together to implement this executive action. To further this work, NAPO’s Executive Director, Bill Johnson, is at the White House all day today meeting with designated stakeholders – including educators, public safety and law enforcement, emergency management professionals, faith leaders, mental health experts, and survivors of violence – to discuss lessons learned and what should be included in the model plans currently being developed.  As a leader in the law enforcement community, NAPO will contribute to this discussion by making sure that the viewpoints and legitimate needs of rank and file law enforcement officers will be safeguarded and always taken into account when these model policies and response plans are being developed.   

The program will consist of three panels, focusing on the emergency management needs of schools, institutions of higher education, and houses of worship.  Johnson will work to further advocate NAPO’s position on firearms violence with officials of DHS, DOJ, HHS and the White House.  NAPO has consistently argued for the need to 1. Keep weapons out of the wrong hands; 2. Reduce violence at all levels in our society; 3. Improve access to, and reduce stigmatization of, mental health care, and; 4.  Educate in age-appropriate ways,  all citizens as to how best to respond when armed violence threatens.