State establishes Minnesota School Safety Center

Saint Paul – Gov. Tim Pawlenty today announced the establishment of the Minnesota School Safety Center, which will develop a framework for all-hazard safety planning for schools and will coordinate activities of federal, state and local partners.

The School Safety Center will be housed at the Minnesota Department of Public Safety and will work in partnership with other state agencies. Retiring Brooklyn Park Chief of Police Wade Setter has been named to lead the Center.

The Center is funded by a $300,000 grant from the federal Bureau of Justice and will be a part of the DPS Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. HSEM will work closely with the Minnesota Department of Education to provide all-hazard planning expertise to schools in Minnesota.

Setter will begin work August 1. He has 28 years of police service and served as chair of the Minnesota Gang and Drug Oversight Council. He served as a D.A.R.E. officer and volunteered in leadership positions for the Viking Council Exploring Division of the Boy Scouts of America. Setter holds a B.S. from Mankato State University and is a graduate of the F.B.I. National Academy and the F.B.I. Law Enforcement Executive Development Seminar.

(Lesley Christianson is a staff writer for the Hutchinson Leader.)
christianson@hutchinsonleader.com