House OKs center for school safety

WASHINGTON -- The House on Tuesday approved creation of an office in the Justice Department to help university security forces train for and prevent violent incidents such as those at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University.

The National Center for Campus Public Safety would issue grants to campus safety agencies, encourage research into improved college safety and conduct training.

The center would be run through the Justice Department's Community Oriented Policing Services program, said Rep. Robert Scott, D-Va., sponsor of the bill with Rep. Louis Gohmert, R-Texas.

Supporters cited the need for more coordinated plans to prevent campus violence following the 2007 attack at Virginia Tech where a mentally disturbed man shot 32 students and teachers to death before killing himself, as well as the incident at Northern Illinois where a gunman killed five students before shooting himself.