Tulsa Public Schools Receives Donation of 20 Ballistic Shields for Student Safety

Tulsa Public Schools got a big donation on Thursday designed to keep students safe if there is ever an active shooter on campus.

Two nonprofit groups, the Stand1st Foundation and the Hardesty Foundation, donated 20 ballistic shields to TPS Campus Police. The rifle-rated ballistic shields are used by officers to protect teachers and students from gunfire.

They also protect the officers until they can take out the threat themselves.

Rogers County Sheriff Scott Walton started the Stand1st Foundation to put lifesaving equipment into the hands of law enforcement all over the state. Many departments can't afford equipment like ballistic shields. The Hardesty Foundation’s donation made it possible to give 20 shields to the Tulsa Public Schools.

"We want these shields to be in the hands of campus police, school resource officers, anybody that's out here that can get them to the school or to the threat as fast as they possibly can,” said Walton.

TPS Campus Police Chief Donnie Lewis says their main job is to keep TPS students safe and that these shields give them another way to do so. They plan to use some shields for training, put some in patrol cars, and put some at schools around the district.

“I think just recognizing globally that we face a different climate in schools now, that this is going to be a great opportunity for crisis intervention with us,” said Lewis.

Sheriff Walton says that with this donation, the Stand1st Foundation has now given out 100 shields across the state, including schools in Haskell County, Bartlesville, and other law enforcement agencies around the state.

“This is a recent stat right now; we're having a police officer shot about every 22 hours. So, if we can protect that officer and allow that officer to continue to move toward the threat, we've provided a safer environment for everyone involved,” said Walton. “If we don't get these tools in the hands of law enforcement the day before, the day after is too late.”

Stand1st would like to expand its donations outside Oklahoma to help any law enforcement agency or school that can’t afford this type of lifesaving equipment.