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Florida lawmakers repeatedly denied pleas for more school-safety money
ANDREW ATTERBURY | ANDREW.ATTERBURY@TCPALM.COM Updated 3 hours ago
STUART, Fla. — One day in October, Cmdr. Dale Tharp recalls, a Pensacola middle school student was bullied to his breaking point.
A tip led deputies to search the 14-year-old's gym bag, where they found a loaded 9mm pistol. Extra magazines were stuffed into a bag pocket.
The incident, Tharp said, is emblematic of how school security has changed since he started working as a resource officer in Escambia County more than 25 years ago.
"We used to be the good guys in white hats, breaking down the barrier between students and law enforcement," Tharp said. "Now, we’re making sure parents can send their kids to school and have them come home in the afternoons."
Tharp has noticed an even more jarring change to school security this year: He has fewer officers. Fewer barriers to prevent the kind of attack like the one that claimed at least 17 lives at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland on Wednesday.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/02/15/fla-lawmakers-repeatedly-denied-pleas-more-school-safety-money/339934002/
STUART, Fla. — One day in October, Cmdr. Dale Tharp recalls, a Pensacola middle school student was bullied to his breaking point.
A tip led deputies to search the 14-year-old's gym bag, where they found a loaded 9mm pistol. Extra magazines were stuffed into a bag pocket.
The incident, Tharp said, is emblematic of how school security has changed since he started working as a resource officer in Escambia County more than 25 years ago.
"We used to be the good guys in white hats, breaking down the barrier between students and law enforcement," Tharp said. "Now, we’re making sure parents can send their kids to school and have them come home in the afternoons."
Tharp has noticed an even more jarring change to school security this year: He has fewer officers. Fewer barriers to prevent the kind of attack like the one that claimed at least 17 lives at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland on Wednesday.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/02/15/fla-lawmakers-repeatedly-denied-pleas-more-school-safety-money/339934002/
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