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Lawmaker to Propose Heightened Security at Schools with Armed Officers

by KREX News Room
by Amanda Brandeis

Story Created: Dec 22, 2012 at 8:42 PM MDT

Story Updated: Dec 22, 2012 at 11:48 PM MDT

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) - In reaction to the tragedy in Connecticut, Colorado Sen. Steve. King is drafting a bill that would help put a school resource officer in all schools.

King believes that putting a school resource officer (SRO) in all schools will better protect student and enrich them in other ways. While Mesa County has had functioning SRO programs for 30 years, King says it's time to expand the idea throughout the entire state.

"The basic function of government is safety. There can't be a higher priority when it comes to our children," King said.

Jennifer Glenn, a mother of two Grand Valley students, said, "It's dangerous. Times aren't what they used to be years ago."

King said, "The idea here is to look at the School Resource Officer program and how do we expand that into schools that don't have School Resource Officers."

Existing School Resource Officers help kids feel safe at school.

Nicole Guerrero, a young student from Denver, said, "They watch over my school and make me feel safer. They watch the outside of my school too."

Morgan Marquard, a student at Mr. Garfield Middle School, said, "It's really sickening that someone would do that to a school and the classrooms."

However, these officers aren't at every school, something King hopes to change statewide.

"Hopefully we can accomplish that for the state of Colorado, I think it's a realistic goal," he said.

Dora Holmes, a mother and grandmother, said, "You know, they [parents] are actually talking about homeschooling and pulling their kids out of school. But if we could have some protection like that I think it would be a great idea."

King says these armed school resource officers do more than just protect the students.

"The high school level they teach law-related education, middle school level they teach drug resistance education. They become an active part of that school's not only administration and staff but just the community," said King.

He and other politicians hope their efforts will help parents and kids feel secure at school, a place previously hailed as one of the safest for our students.

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Conerned citizen said on Monday, Dec 24 at 11:20 PM

The problem with SRO's is the cost. Here is a good way to overcome the cost. Disban the federal department of education. It's a useless government body, use the money saved there to hire SRO's.

Concerned citizen said on Monday, Dec 24 at 11:11 PM

SRO's can be a good idea, if they are only responsible for one school at a time. I think teachers need to carry guns, or at the very least have guns in the principals office. Schools also need to go back to iron mesh on first floor windows.

gg said on Monday, Dec 24 at 10:37 AM

I have heard many parents ask about security at our schools and some have even volunteered to patrol our schools. Not sure if this is the answer but I do like the idea of SRO's, we spend tax dollars on so many projects why not on the safety of our schools.

Disgusted said on Monday, Dec 24 at 4:15 AM

It is comical that in The Peoples Republic of Mesa County that a brat can walk 2 miles on a street with no sidewalks or street lamps at single digit temperatures solo, but then has to have an armed guard if they make it to their destination. If we can't afford a bus to get them to school, how can we afford armed guards?

Patricia said on Sunday, Dec 23 at 11:34 AM

I agree, but it needs to be community by community, district by district, not a blanket one size fits all mandate. I am a teacher and one major element that has not been addressed is that there needs to be two exits from a classroom, one into the hall, and one to the outside. Many of the newer schools, and school additions have classroom with the only exit being to the hallway. This is a problem not only if there is an intruder, but also if there were a fire in that hall, the students have no other avenue of escape.

Floyd said on Sunday, Dec 23 at 8:56 AM

Why not put veterans who are back from a war zone and are very keen about recognizing a threat no one else would be able to recognize. Just having two people like that in the schools would be a very effective deterrant, war veterans are known to shoot first and ask questions later. No selfdisrespecting threat to school kids would want to face anyone who wouldn't run from them. Oh, I forgot, obama has already declared them terrorists, I was just thinking we could put veterans to work to help them get on their feet after getting out of the service, I'm not very politically correct.

Disgusted said on Sunday, Dec 23 at 1:55 AM

Just another excuse to put yet another government worker on the dole, nothing more. Perhaps if the leviathan wasn't such a drag on the economy and the Healthcare/Marxism complex wasn't pumping our children full of psychotropics, then maybe we might a positive outcome. It is truly sad when somebody who portrays himself as a conservative turns out to be another statist, but not unexpected.

jhs said on Saturday, Dec 22 at 10:08 PM

School resource officers would round out the group of community partners that King has put in place across Colorado in previous sessions. These partners, who work together in school safety planning and training, include mental health, fire, emergency medical, law enforcement, 911, Homeland Security, emergency management, Safe2Tell, emergency communications -- as well as the safety team composed of staff members in each school. Since Colorado now requires that every school safety team train in the Incident Command System side-by-side with their local first responders, it makes sense that school resource officers participate in this process. They walk in 2 worlds, the world of public safety and the world of school climate. They have the ability to be in step with each of the other community partners, and provide a valuable service to the schools, helping them reach the goals of the National Incident Management System as required by the Colorado Safe School Act.

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