The safety of our schools is of utmost importance and increasingly difficult to achieve. Districts are in a continual struggle to find effective, efficient and affordable ways to provide their students and employees with a safe environment in which to work and learn.

On July 31, 2019 the Missouri Governor's School Safety Task Force released their report which calls for schools to provide "woven layers of protection" and that "prevention efforts must be comprehensive, connected, and seamless; all supporting a common goal of school safety." Furthermore, the report states, "Where economically feasible and embraced by local governance, schools should have the benefit of an armed School Resource Officer (SRO) or an armed School Protection Officer (SPO) in every school to provide an immediate response in the event of an active shooter situation. These men and women are critical to school safety for the relationships they develop with students and because of their role as a conduit to emergency response."

Missouri Law empowers districts to appoint select administrators and faculty members as School Protection Officers as one way to provide an intermediate level of response to violence in the schools. SPOs are authorized by the district to carry concealed firearms and self-defense spray on campus, once they have successfully completed a Department of Public Safety approved SPO Training Program. The training gives the SPOs the knowledge, skills and abilities to appropriately respond to an active shooter event.

The three week, 120 hour course, meets all of the statutory requirements for SPO certification and includes lessons in Use of Force Justification, Emergency Response, Building Search, Survival Mentality, Handcuffing and Restraint Devices, Weapon Retention and Disarming, Ground Fighting Techniques, Basic First Aid/CPR, Combat First Aid and more than 40 hours of Advanced Firearms Training.

LETI has been providing academy instruction for law enforcement officers since 1947. All of the instructors for the SPO academy are active or retired law enforcement officers with a proven track record of experience and exceptional training skills. The mission of LETI is to prepare your designated SPO to be able to confront and counteract violence in your school. Our goal is to provide the training necessary to either interrupt violence before it happens or end violence quickly after it begins.

The cost for the training is $2100.00 per person which includes all training materials and range fees. Meals and lodging are not included, but LETI has negotiated reduced rates at several local hotels.

For any questions, please contact LETI at 573-882-6021 or by email at leti@missouri.edu.

The SPO Basic Training Program

Legal Studies

• Justification — Use of force

Interpersonal Perspectives

• Survival mentality

Technical Studies

• Emergency response / Building searches
• Basic first aid
• American Heart Association health care provider C.P.R. certification
• Combat first aid

Skill Development

• Handcuffing and restraint devices
• Weapons retention and disarming
• Ground fighting techniques
• Sabre-Oleoresin-Capsicum operator
• Fundamentals of marksmanship
• Shooting stance/loading/dry fire
• Skill development – handgun
• Handgun qualification
• Stress combat courses
• Shooting decisions
• Practical application scenarios