July 25, 2024 – Hoover, Ala. – The US Department of Homeland Security announced this week that it has appointed National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO) executive director Mo Canady to serve as an inaugural member of the Department’s new Federal School Safety Clearinghouse External Advisory Board. The Board is a group of school safety experts and education leaders who will provide advice and recommendations on practical ways to enhance K-12 school safety and security.
“I’m of course greatly honored to be invited to serve,” Canady said, “and I’m pleased that the DHS recognizes the importance of including the perspectives of school resource officers, who play an essential role in school safety and security as well as in mentoring and helping to educate students.”
School resource officers (SROs) are carefully selected, specifically trained and properly equipped law enforcement officers with sworn authority, who are trained in school-based law enforcement and crisis response and assigned by employing law enforcement agencies to work collaboratively with one or more schools using community-oriented policing concepts.
Canady is a former SRO and a retired SRO supervisor who has served as NASRO’s executive director since 2011. Under his leadership, the nonprofit professional organization became the premiere training agency for SROs across the United States and around the world and established best practices and standards for school-based policing. With his guidance, the organization’s Basic SRO Course became the only SRO course to receive certification from the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training and to be recognized by the federal government as the gold standard in training for SROs.
The Federal School Safety Clearinghouse External Advisory Board will advise the Secretary of Homeland Security through the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on the implementation of evidence-based school safety practices, according to a DHS news release. The Board is administered by CISA and will convene in fall 2024 for its first meeting.
About NASRO
The National Association of School Resource Officers is a nonprofit organization for school-based law enforcement officers, school administrators and school security and safety professionals working as partners to protect students, school faculty and staff, and the schools where they learn and work. NASRO provides specific training for SROs at locations around the nation, hosts an annual National School Safety Conference and advocates for best practices to help SRO programs accomplish their goals while avoiding unintended consequences. NASRO is headquartered in Hoover, Alabama, and was established in 1991. For more information, visit www.nasro.org.
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