School safety key focus of Ga. police chiefs meeting

TIFTON, Ga. (WALB) - Law enforcement agencies around southwest Georgia are focused on improving security at area schools. That was the focus of a police chief summit.

The actions by police in Uvalde are serving as a learning tool for agencies across the country. It was a major topic for every police chief from the Region 1 Georgia Association on Thursday.

Chief Chris Elrod said school safety prompted this meeting.

Elrod has been policing for 29 years. He said he hears more about school shootings now than ever before. The National Center for Education Statistics shows there were 93 school shootings during the last school year, increasing from 11 shootings a decade ago.

“A lot of what we talked about today is things they did right, things they did wrong and not as a why did you do that kind of thing but more of, hey let’s learn from it, let’s see what they did, let’s make us better, and learn from it,” he said.

From Thursday’s training, police are looking to invest in holistic shields for all Region 1 officers. Along with school safety, law enforcement says gang-related issues are keeping them busy.