As someone who grew up with an armed officer in their schools, I would like to take a moment to discuss the article on armed security in Cobb County schools.
Having a School Resource Officer (SRO) did not make students safer. Most of the work my high school’s officer did, outside of wandering the hall, was pull kids for drug testing if he suspected use and enforce student and teacher parking lot divides.
It’s no surprise that the government’s response to an increase in school shootings during the ’90s was to funnel billions of dollars into employing SROs. But has it been effective?
The short answer is no.
Since Columbine, the most prominent school shooting of the 1990s, the number of SROs in schools across the nation has skyrocketed. Evidence supports that these officers protect from physical fights between students, but no evidence supports that they stop violence during active shootings.
You may look at that sentence and think that even a little protection is enough to suffice, but at what cost?
Schools with SROs see higher rates of students in In School Suspension(ISS), harsher punishments for minor offences, and higher rates of arrest or referrals. This translates directly to a reduction in academic success, higher dropout rates, lower college enrollment, and an increased likelihood of entering the criminal justice system before adulthood. Students negatively impacted by school SROs are overwhelmingly black, male, and those with disabilities.
A policy like the one detailed in the article by MDJ reporter Hunter Riggall can appear like a great safety measure on the surface. Still, considering the lack of success SROs have in schools, what chance do non-trained police officers have in creating the nurturing and safe learning environment children need to thrive?
Instead of adding more guns into our schools, we need to work toward creating safer gun laws that actively reduce access to dangerous weapons. It’s time we start treating the ability to own a gun like we treat the ability to drive a car and implement mandatory training classes and license renewal guidelines.
This is the best start to making our schools safer, not armed security guards.
This will be considered politically incorrect and racist. The truth many times is. There is a reason the majority of persons apprehended by SRO are Black. It’s the same reason the majority of inmates in our prisons are Black. Is it racism, or are those persons apprehended committing most of the offensive acts? Go back and look at the riots in 2021 in our Blue cities, where the Democrat leaders were not in favor of law and order. Who is committing the majority of the crimes there?
I'll take a Security Officer with a gun by his side in EVERY school any day of the week. There also has to be LOCKED doors only open from the inside. Also, not anyone who rings the buzzer gets admitted into the school building. Any person who rings the buzzer should be asked who they are at the school to see and then that person comes to front door to either authorize or decline admittance and that goes especially for young people who are or were recently students of that school. Unless I am wrong, the school mass murders have all been committed by deranged young people and just because they are familiar, does not permit them to enter a locked building. Yes, there has to be some common sense here but the school officer is in control of the premises and he has the right to frisk or deny entrance to ANYBODY!
In addition to armed SRO', we need to lock down the school campus with better fencing, way more cameras, beefed up entrances into the buildings and internal door locking systems for the classrooms.
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This will be considered politically incorrect and racist. The truth many times is. There is a reason the majority of persons apprehended by SRO are Black. It’s the same reason the majority of inmates in our prisons are Black. Is it racism, or are those persons apprehended committing most of the offensive acts? Go back and look at the riots in 2021 in our Blue cities, where the Democrat leaders were not in favor of law and order. Who is committing the majority of the crimes there?
You nailed it Mr Spruill.
I'll take a Security Officer with a gun by his side in EVERY school any day of the week. There also has to be LOCKED doors only open from the inside. Also, not anyone who rings the buzzer gets admitted into the school building. Any person who rings the buzzer should be asked who they are at the school to see and then that person comes to front door to either authorize or decline admittance and that goes especially for young people who are or were recently students of that school. Unless I am wrong, the school mass murders have all been committed by deranged young people and just because they are familiar, does not permit them to enter a locked building. Yes, there has to be some common sense here but the school officer is in control of the premises and he has the right to frisk or deny entrance to ANYBODY!
In addition to armed SRO', we need to lock down the school campus with better fencing, way more cameras, beefed up entrances into the buildings and internal door locking systems for the classrooms.
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Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.