Quote:
Originally Posted by ARTelevision
Amending my preference toward an unrealistic ideal - which I usually prefer not to entertain - IMO, policepersons would be better than armed guards. We'd have to be willing to fund police forces more than we typically do.
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Amen. I agree that in an ideal world, having a police officer present at every school for every X number of students would be best.
However, you must take into account the cost. Police officers cost a lot of money. Unarmed security guards can handle the vast majority of security incidents in a school, and can be hired two or three for the cost of one police officer. Most schools will never have a shooting incident, but nearly all have fights and other smaller security problems that benefit from having a guard of some kind present. If you really feel the need to have armed personnel, requiring bonding and proper training in firearms handling and retention could alleviate the problem, without the enormous expense of hiring huge numbers of new police officers.
In any case, we have to keep in mind that these incidents are rare, that schools are generally safe places to be. Shooting incidents get publicity because, like plane crashes, they are so rare and so horrifying when they do occur. This doesn't mean that we need to make wholesale changes to the system.