Police In Schools?

In the newly heated up debates on how best to protect our children in school, the proposal to put an armed police officer in every school certainly has caused another surge of opinions, arguments and passionate replies. I must admit that initially I thought it was an overly expensive idea that was simply an overreaction, but there are certain positive aspects that deserve consideration and discussion.

When I was a child we always looked forward to career day when “Mr. Policeman” would show up. Sometimes with his K-9 buddy, sometimes with that big gun and often with examples of those pills and things that we were supposed to avoid and go get an adult to take care of the “situation”. We enjoyed the policeman and no doubt, a neck of a lot of us wanted to grow up to be just like him. In todays schools we don’t see enough of that and as we grow into adulthood, or respect for the police and other law enforcement professionals is certainly on the decline. Some there fault, some ours, but plenty of blame to go around.

So, I’m thinking that putting a police officer that is specially trained in community policing and understands the importance of building good relationships, one student at a time, into every school, we might be sowing the seeds of greater respect and understanding between our law enforcement personnel and every youngster. The policeman doesn’t need to sit around …. If they can become an active member of the school community, that with their sheer presence will help every school in many more ways than we can imagine and perhaps the next former student will think twice about going back to their school to do some kind of harm.

There are no guarantees and proving the program’s success will take decades, but I can’t help but think that any positive approach to promoting one of the more important roles within our society has got to be good for the kids, the community, and the country as a whole. And let’s not forget that in case of emergency, most police are trained in CPR, basic medical reaction, have a radio to immediately summon help, and with that big gun, the capability to take down the bad guys or at least buy more of those precious minutes for a lot more policemen to arrive and render assistance.

Yep, I’d have to say this idea is a win/win. Certainly it’s going to cost a little more, but when you look at the long term benefits …. This one looks like a sure fire good investment in the community!