Republican Gov. Greg Abbott sent a letter to Texas education officials on Wednesday establishing "in-person, unannounced, random intruder detection audits" for state schools.
In his two-page letter, the governor ordered the Texas School Safety Center to cooperate with the Texas Education Agency in developing conduct for future implementation of the audits.
"Staff should approach campuses to find weak points and [determine] how quickly they can penetrate buildings without being stopped," Abbott wrote to Texas State University's Dr. Kathy Martinez-Prather, director of the safety center.
"This will help determine if schools are prepared to implement and follow" School Safety Emergency Operations Plans," he added.
Abbott also requested that the safety center begin working with his office and the Texas Legislature "on recommendations to improve current security systems and determine the funding necessary to continue the work of hardening our schools against outside threats."
The steps set forth by Abbott then instruct the agency to provide a progress report to the Office of the Governor and the state House and Senate by Oct. 1.
The Texas governor's letter comes amid fallout from the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde last week, where 19 children and two teachers were killed. Another 18 individuals were injured, including one of the victims' grandmothers.
Controversy has since arisen regarding the Uvalde Police Department's stalled response to the attack.
Texas Public Safety Director Steven C. McCraw admitted during a May 27 press conference that police "made the wrong decision" by not storming a classroom where the attacker was inside, BBC reported.
Shortly after, Abbott told reporters in Uvalde that he was "livid" and felt "misled" by the local police's initial account, according to The Texas Tribune.
"I am livid about what happened," Abbott said. "The information I was given turned out, in part, to be inaccurate, and I am absolutely livid about that."
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