Florida Program Arming and Training Civilians to Battle School Shooters
Source: The Daily Beast
The sheriffs office in Polk County, Florida, is training a troupe of armed guardians, or regular civilians, to protect students during the upcoming school yeara program that some critics find troubling.
Formal officers trained to specific standards should be the law enforcement presence in schools if theres going to be one, Secure Schools Alliance Executive Director Robert Boyd told The Daily Beast. You dont just take anybody and put them in a school, particularly with a firearm.
One of the masterminds behind the program, Sheriff Grady Judd, is an unabashed gun-rights supporterand an outspoken critic of illegal immigration, among other hot-button issues. He was one of 12 sheriffs to meet with President Donald Trump, whom hes called the best ally of law enforcement, in February.
Judd insists the civilian guardians will be well-trainedand more cost-effective than school resource officers. Potential guardians must complete background checks, psychological evaluations, and drug tests during the training process, according to the Polk Countys Sheriff Office. Over 500 people applied for the program, but only 150 people made it to the training portion, Judd told News 6... More...
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/florida-program-arming-and-training-civilians-to-battle-school-shooters/ar-AAyB3Bj
'Polk County Schools Superintendent Jacqueline Byrd told The Daily Beast that the school board and the sheriffs office worked together to create the program. The guardian program was created to make sure we have someone in our schoolsmainly elementary schoolsthat dont currently have school resource officers, Byrd said. None of the teachers in the school district will be armed, she added.'
FarPoint
(12,409 posts)What next... neighborhood watch groups lead by George Zimmerman?
Igel
(35,320 posts)The "armed" part is new, but my kid's elementary school had "bull dogs" to help provide security. They'd be parents of kids who attended who'd be around near the beginning and end of the school day just to be a presence, break up any fights, and make sure that the teachers wouldn't have to deal with irate parents (or those claiming to be parents) picking up not-really-their charges. Divorced parents, relatives, strangers.
Did they ever actually have to deal with parents or faux parents? It's a secret, but at the time odds are just having others there to make any challenge clearly very lopsided away from the bully, the parent exceeding the parameters of the custody agreement, or even the older or larger kid picking on the younger or smaller kid would by itself make it seem like the bull dogs were pointless.
The only way to look at any effectiveness is year-over-year comparisons. The problem is that demographics were changing, so year-over-year comparisons aren't valid for that purpose.