Common Sense School Security

In my county of Fairfax, secondary and high schools have something called “school resource officers” which are off-duty or retired policemen who keep those schools more secure. But elementary schools do not have such officers. I happen to think its an oversight, and no one until last Friday could imagine the horror of an evil bastard gunning down little kids. But its time to tighten this security.

In the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary Massacre, there have been lots of knee-jerk ideas thrown around about banning guns or arming the teachers. My pal Trench is right about arming teachers. It would be a bad idea. Too many guns would be in reach of evil bastards in the classrooms, and as I have often documented, teachers aren’t the sharpest knives in the drawers anyways. They would not make good security personnel. And I doubt the liberal teachers’ unions would allow that anyways.

My first idea was that each school have one or two armed security officers- but I dismissed that idea after remembering that most security guards are fat, lazy and couldn’t outrun me, much less a more fit person. I’ve been to quite a few downtown DC agencies, and other than the Pentagon, most front-desk security officers seem poorly trained, uneducated, and fat. At least they have guns. That deters most mischief.

No, the real way to increase security is to get well-trained and armed security staff to go to the schools. Fairfax Police should use each Elementary School as a morning and afternoon staging area for their normal patrol routines. Right now they each start their daily routines from one of the 8 district precincts in the county. Instead of starting at the precinct stations, they should start their patrols from the schools. And let them enjoy donuts and coffee in the teachers’ lounge, or even have the schools dedicate an unused room or desk for the use of officers on duty.

This solution raises the visibility of police at schools, and it also disperses police nicely geographically so they are always close to respond to incidents around the county. This could be accomplished with very little additional money and minimal hassle. And it would go a long way to providing security at schools and peace of mind for parents.