Patrick Leahy: “this week we join in mourning the tragic killings at Virginia Tech on Monday. The innocent lives of students and…”

“this week we join in mourning the tragic killings at Virginia Tech on Monday. The innocent lives of students and professors are a terrible loss for their families and friends and for their community. It affects us all. We honor them and mourn their loss. I expect that in the days ahead, as we learn more about what happened, how it happened and perhaps why it happened, we will have debate and discussion and perhaps legislative proposals to consider. For example, I know that Senator Boxer has introduced a School Safety Enhancement Act, S. 677, to allow matching grants for school security, including surveillance equipment, hotlines and tip lines and other measures. We may need to further enhance the COPS in Schools Program begun by President Clinton. I look forward to working with Regina Schofield, the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs at the Department of Justice, Domingo Herraiz, the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, and others to make improvements that can increase the safety and security of our children and grandchildren in schools and colleges. Today, we may finally make progress on security in another important setting by turning to the Court Security Improvement Act of 2007, S. 378. Frankly, this legislation should have been enacted last year but was not. It should not be a struggle to enact these measures to improve court security.”