Arming University Police Departments Part 2: Best Practices and Lessons Learned
Deciding to arm campus and university police forces is a complex process that involves much effort by the university and its police department to create and cement strong working relationships with staff, faculty, students, neighboring law enforcement agencies and community members. If such a process is not implemented successfully, it can produce conflict among the university community and its stakeholders. Universities must factor in the risks, costs, procedural changes and training requirements, while recognizing the concerns of the university students, staff, faculty and surrounding community.
However, guidance is limited on the considerations that should be factored into this decision-making process as well as on the implementation side should universities decide to arm their officers. Here’s a blueprint that includes issues and recommendations that universities should consider as they move through the process of arming their officers.
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New School Security Standards Result of Newtown The new Sandy Hook Elementary School will be a "model'' for the type of security required to be built into all school construction in this state, and likely others, for the foreseeable future, said the town's building and site commission leader, Robert Mitchell. The state Department of Administrative Services released a final draft of its School Safety Infrastructure Council report, which highlights some of the measures, including external video surveillance with unobstructed views, automatic locking classroom doors, higher windows, blast-proof glass in entranceways and improved internal communication systems, as well as parking area criteria and fencing around buildings. It calls for playgrounds to be set away from roadways and in direct line of sight of surveillance equipment. "While the work of the SSIC is born of the events in Newtown involving a rogue shooter, other potential threats, both natural and manmade, have led the Council to consider an "all hazards" approach to school design and security standards," the report states. "As a result, the Council has broadened the preventive design standards to incorporate the most up to date seismic and weather related design requirements, while also considering architectural and design deterrents to terrorists, environmental and chemical accidents or attacks." Now, school districts seeking to qualify for the $600 million spent annually to build and renovate schools must comply with the new safety regulations to qualify for those funds.
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Boise State Officials Contest Guns on Campus Bill
John Uda, Boise State University’s Security Chief has voiced his opposition to proposed legislation that would allow guns to be legally carried on campus, claiming that it could cost the university nearly $2 million annu- ally. He believes allowing firearms on campus will bring new threats to campus, “With the passage of SB 1254, security officers will now be making regular contact with armed faculty, staff, students and visitors in non- emergency situations. Officers will now have to be trained in ‘good gun v. bad gun’ situations and be expected to handle the results of ‘bad gun’ situations.” As a result, the university will have to revamp its campus security department and create a public safety department that would include armed officers.
Read more Man Arrested for Threatening Security Staff
Police arrested a man who allegedly threatened to kill security staff at St. Mary's Hospital. According to police, the suspect came to the hospital with a family member. Shortly afterwards security staff escorted him outside after he began to yell and swear. He later returned to the hospital and allegedly threatened security again stating he was going to get his shotgun. An hour later, police found Penman’s car outside the facility and said he was carrying shotgun shells in his pockets and had a shotgun in the trunk of his car. Penman faces two counts of disorderly conduct and two counts of trespass to a medical facility.
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Moscow Teen Kills Two in Rare Russian School Shooting
A teenager described as a model student shot a teacher and a police officer dead and took more than 20 of his schoolmates hostage in a Moscow classroom. The suspect was disarmed and detained about an hour after the shootings after talking to his father, the owner of the two rifles with which he forced his way into the school. The incident rattled nerves in a country on high alert for Islamist militant violence as athletes and spectators arrive for the Sochi Games, a prestige project that will help shape President Vladimir Putin's legacy. Putin, who says young Russians are suffering from a moral vacuum left by the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, said the attack might have been avoided with better cultural education. It is almost unheard-of for a student to attack a school in Russia. Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said the Moscow student may have suffered an "emotional breakdown". Russian media said the alleged assailant might have been settling a score with the geography teacher. But Markin said there were "no
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