Mo Canady holds a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from Jacksonville State University. He is a former lieutenant with the City of Hoover Police Department in Hoover, Alabama. The last twelve years of his law enforcement career were spent as the supervisor of the School Services Division. After 25 years of service, he retired from the Hoover Police Department in 2011.

He was appointed as an instructor for the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO) in 2001 and a NASRO board member in 2005. He also served as president of The Alabama Association of School Resource Officers (TAASRO) in 2004.

Mo has served as the executive director for NASRO since 2011. Under his leadership, the organization has become the premiere training agency for school resource officers (SROs) across the country and around the world, establishing national standards for school-based policing. With his guidance, the organization’s Basic SRO Course became the only SRO course to receive national certification and to be recognized by the federal government as the gold standard of training for SROs.

Canady’s expertise as a school safety expert is sought after by many major news outlets including Fox News, CNN, and National Public Radio. At a national level, Canady has testified on the matter of SRO national standards before the Federal Commission on School Safety in 2018 and the matter of school safety before the United States House Committee on Education and the Workforce in 2013.

He is a co-author of the national report; “To Protect and Educate – The School Resource Officer and the Prevention of Violence in Schools”, released in 2012. He is widely recognized for his advocacy of carefully selected, specifically trained, and properly equipped school resource officers and is a respected voice in the school safety arena.