Why not a cop in every school?

[superpatriotman]

We have armed cops on planes, in office buildings, in courthouses...why not in schools to protect children?

[BlueCheese]

1. I don't think you can make the world safe by having police everywhere.

There are too many places and not enough money. Once you're done with schools, what about playgrounds? Libraries? Toy stores? Day care centers? Chuck-E-Cheeses? Swimming pools? I just don't think it can work.

[Arctic Dave]

2. Uh oh, the enablers are at the, "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" level.

Uh, no, we don't have armed police at all those places.

Give it up NRA mass murder enabling spreader.

[Logical]

3. I imagine a cost thing. And some schools would need more than 1 to cover the whole school. There ...

are 98,000 public schools in the USA. And some schools cannot even afford teachers.

[rustydog]

4. So your cop in every school answer:

Cop is in classroom A. Shooter goes to Classroom D kills everyone inside.

Cop in every Mall. Cop in every park.

Gun Control. It needs to be discussed and acted on.

[Liberal Veteran]

5. Great idea! We can call them the "Zimmerman Public Patrol".

[SheilaT]

11. YES!!

And I think we know just the person to train them!

Not that I should need this.

[onehandle]

6. Fuck that. nt

[progressoid]

7. There are nearly 100,000 public schools in the US.

just sayin'

[FarCenter]

15. There are about a million law enforcement officers and another million guard service employees

[rustydog]

8. The: We need more prople with guns answer is NOT a good answer.

[libdem4life]

9. It sounds like a good idea...like going to a Federal Building or an Airport. But unless there is

some checkpoint all have to go through, it's not likely to stop situations that stem from these kind of situations. Schools have been designed to make it easy to access for kids and teachers. We had "portable" classrooms that were completely separate and backed up to other streets as school enrollment increased.

It's a dramatic shifting of the sense of social order.

[dpgillam]

10. you mean we dont?

Most of Indiana already has security at most all schools, and metal detectors at the doors, and has since the early 90s.
We followed the example of NY, CA, etc.
What states dont?

[superpatriotman]

13. Any shootings?

Doe the deterrent seem to be deterring?

I don't think there's been a hijacking since 9-11


New gun restrictions are definitely called for, as are other measures.

[Cerridwen]

12. Not just every school. Every classroom.

They should be armed with the biggest and bestest, most technologically advanced method for killing...humans, terrorists, animals, squirrels.

They should also be armed with real-time video and audio and have instantaneous access to every record ever recorded of "we the people" at their "fingertips."

Every child, and ultimately, every adult, should be "chipped" and our DNA recorded.

Better yet, we should each have an audio/video mechanism implanted and recording and relayed to a centralized warehouse which tracks our "brain waves" and (as soon as the technology is available) our thoughts, which can be monitored 24/7/365.

I would surely feel so much safer. You?

Old Ben just didn't understand the need for security.

Do I need a sarcasm smiley here? Really?

[Tx4obama]

14. Here's an article below that has a few examples of why that would be a bad idea ...

Juvenile Judge: My Court Was Inundated w/ Non-Dangerous Kids Arrested Because They ‘Make Adults Mad'

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/12/13/1329481/juvenile-judge-my-court-was-inundated-with-non-dangerous-kids-arrested-because-they-make-adults-mad/

[pkdu]

16. Why not a handgun at every desk...nt

[RichGirl]

17. Have you ever been in a school?

Even a small one has hallways and many rooms. A cop can't be everywhere. A lot of damage can be done in minutes before the cop even knows what's going on.

A gun is a tool to kill someone. It should be extremely difficult to get one. At least as difficult as getting a driver's license. There should be strict and severe gun laws, not just for owners, but for sellers and manufacturers. Punishment for breaking any law should be severe and definitely jail time.

The GUN is the problem. A person may be an excellent builder of houses....but without tools, he can't build a house. A gun is a tool to kill people. Without a gun a sick, angry person wouldn't be able to do as much damage.

[JVS]

18. Knowing cops, it would just cause a massive increase in the number of students tazed.

[Nye Bevan]

19. And what if the next massacre is in a playground?

Put a cop in every playground? And then if the next one is in a park, a cop in every park?

[slampoet]

20. You are more likely to be killed by a cop than a mass shooter.

That is why.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

27. x2

[big nate]

21. choice school

Their are five elementary schools in my town. If only one of them had an armed cop I would enroll my daughter there. I bet the waiting list would be out the door and any crazies would visit one of the other schools first. Just saying.

[JoePhilly]

24. The poor won't be able to afford these private schools ... the vouchers won't come close to covering

the cost.

So basically, we'll be subsidizing the cost of private schools for parents who can already afford them, and then killing the public schools.

Good plan.

[JoePhilly]

22. The GOP will scream BIG GOVERNMENT, and then whine about the cost.

[LeftInTX]

25. You're right

[Renew Deal]

23. Why not a cop in every home?

Not only will they protect us from crime, but protect us from ourselves.

[XemaSab]

26. Would you believe that it would cost 6.5 billion dollars?

130K public schools, 50K per cop... the math there is ugly.

There are much cheaper and more effective ways to prevent this kind of violence.

[JoePhilly]

28. GOP would say that closing all the public schools would be an AWESOME idea.

[RudynJack]

29. Cost, first.

Then what if the cop's patrolling the cafeteria when a gunman enters a classroom 100 yards away? What if a gunman takes out the cop first.

So then we get 3, 5,10 cops per school? It has no end.

I don't know the solution. I honestly don't. The gun-nuts fought for decades for this situation, and now they have it. It's their problem to solve - our solutions have been soundly rejected.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

30. No shock this turned into a cop hatin' thread

Just like the gun nuts, the cop haters gotta find their refuge somewhere.

[virgogal]

33. Yep! Happens every time.

[NoOneMan]

31. Is a cop in every school is an admittance of social failure

I am not claiming you do not need one. I am merely pointing out that its necessity could stand as a testament that this society/civilization has passed its prime.

If you can acknowledge that, then a second question comes: how far are you willing to go to preserved a failed, broken system that continues to churn out death and destruction?

A cop in every school you want? To me, it sounds like a request for comfort from a Stockholm Syndrome victim.

[spanone]

32. a tank in every school yard.

[Starry Messenger]

34. All the other comments make good points about the expense

But also, what can one cop do against a heavily armed assailant who can fire many rounds per second. These are terroristic attacks meant for maximum damage.

[Recursion]

35. Many schools have a cop (or a few), at least during certain hours

There's several programs that do that. Though I think it's usually more for community outreach than security.

[Trillo]

40. Have you seen these photos?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021923998



Or how about this one, cops beating kid because of an untucked shirt.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=179x5096

[GReedDiamond]

36. OK, but they should be undercover...

...bring in very small, adult-aged, gun-trained-and-packin' Policemen and Policewomen who may pass as children, perhaps using makeup and stuff - a bearded 7 year old may tip-off the bad guy(s).

Put one of each in every classroom throughout our god-fearin', gun-totin' Nation.

Wuddayathink?

(insert blood-dripping sarcasm thing here)

I am not trying to turn this incident into a "Kindergarten Cop" sequel, no lightheartedness intended.

The Gun Nut Lobby in the USA needs to go away.

[Agnosticsherbet]

37. Why not regulate guns? The problem is uncontrolled unregulated gun ownership.

When we saw banks needed regulation to keep them from killing the economy, we didn't say, maybe we should just higher extra minders to protect the economy and let bankers run amok.

[jwirr]

38. Many high schools do have police in the schools. Who would have thought that this was needed in

elementary schools?

[TexasBushwhacker]

39. It would be difficult to protect a school with one cop

and it would be cost prohibitive to have many cops. Besides, if someone had their mind set on killing kids, they could just wait til they're on the playground or waiting for the bus. It's the availability of guns that's the problem.

[Floyd_Gondolli]

41. My city has one in every public high school and middle school

They're called school resource officers and they are cops who are assigned by our local police dept. This is an urban district with about 35k students and 8 or 9 high schools and a dozen or so middle schools. Most of the large suburban districts have similar set ups. Not a solution but it doesn't hurt either.

[WinkyDink]

42. Do you know how many doors suburban schools often have? My h.s. has at least nine.