âWe looked at the data and found that too many unarmed black kids were surviving pistol rounds and beatings, so we wanted to enable our officers to get those guaranteed kills that they can feel great about afterwards because nobody was able to contradict their reports. Itâs really a huge step forward in our ability to grant our officers the confidence to act with decisiveness and authority while keeping those filthy darkies in their place.â
I think that sometimes, certain people just cannot deal with their anxieties, and so cast about for ways to soothe them; and sometimes, this doesnât work, and they break.
Unfortunately, sometimes those people have decision making authority that affects many others.
Someone with the surname Trump said something in America that made sense. Who woulda think itâŚ
What could POSSIBLY go wrong?!
Richard Payne, director of Douglas County School District security, forthcoming book is titled âWhen Stupid Comes to Townâ.
The linked article mentions that âschool security workers in nearby Denver, Aurora, and Jefferson counties carry only handguns, while those in Cherry Creek are unarmed.â It therefore appears that a wide spectrum of responses to the issue of school security have been implemented in Colorado.
The Douglas County School District has apparently decided to go with long arms that will stay locked in officersâ vehicles until needed (presumably, to address an active shooter incident). Apart from neglecting to consult with the school board (which may or may not be an issue, depending upon the localityâs rules and regulations), I fail to see why this makes the security director an âasshole.â
If anything, one might consider the practice of having security officers armed with rifles (which will be locked in security vehicles 99.9% of the time) to be safer than those jurisdictions where officers carry handguns on their persons around the schools.
These are security guards, not police officers. Itâs a bad idea on many levels, not the least of which is security guards do not have qualified immunity. And their vehicles are now targets for break-ins, possibly even by someone intent on shooting up a school. Pretty convenient for that purpose, eh?
Well⌠I guess if they stay in their cars unless needed, thatâs ok. Seems a bit much, I just wouldnât want them patrolling the halls with them.
The details some of you all missed was:
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This isnât for the standard security officers (who are unarmed), it is for the SRO officers, one at each school.
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Each SRO is former LE.
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Those SROs were already armed with handguns.
I still question the NEED for armed securities at most schools. But I guess if they are properly trained and stored it isnât going to hurt anything.
Excuse me, is this the road to Kent State?
While Iâll second the notion that this is a bad idea for the reasons you mentioned, I think mysterr has a good point that shouldnât be overlooked - relative to pistols in a holster, this makes accessing the gun inconvenient and so lessens âheat of the momentâ threats.
You know what lessens it further? Not arming school police or security guards with guns of any sort.
Lack of qualified immunity sounds like a feature, not a bug. As for security vehicles being targets for firearm theft, how would that differ from any other type of security or police vehicles, whose locked trunks have been used for decades to secure weapons?
Sure, but thatâs not going to happen anytime soon. So perhaps an idea that mitigates risk, while being politically palatable, should be considered.
You are correct; apparently, those details were in the video. Thanks for pointing that out.
SROs are different in every jurisdiction. For example, in NYC, SROs are NYPD officers. In this case, they appear to be former LEOs. YMMV.
Patrolling the halls of a school armed with a long rifle would be pretty ridiculous. Luckily, that is not what is contemplated here.
I see a strange convergence of prisons and schools. As scrutiny of the prison industrial complex erodes profits in the former, perhaps new markets will happen in the latter, serviced by the same firms. Plus, they can improve efficiencies by just opening a door between them for the non-white kidsâŚ
Have a (totally inferior, but what else can I do?) 
Still donât get it, unless they want to send a message like âdonât mess with us because we got big gunsâ
If the rifles are locked away and out of reach of the officers, essentially they are useless, by the time they get to the car, unlock them and get back to the scene to start chasing the âactive shooterâ, there could be dozens of victims
On top of that, if the shooter knows they have have to go to the car to get the rifle, it gives him (lets assume is male, for statistical reasons) the advantage of predicting the initial movements of the officer.
Unless they stay in the car, parked in different random places everyday, on constant radio contact and within easy reach of the school grounds⌠I know, it sounds paranoid, and I am not expert, but I am struggling to think how could this work as intended, which I assume is to kill the shooter before it causes any harm.
I still think this is little more than a publicity stunt, directed to grab headlines, and thankful I live in a country where private weapons are in practical terms banned
more colours!
and a pot of coffee!
