<p>No. Although twice this year drug sniffing dogs where brought in to search the parking lot and lockers.</p>
<p>First year they’ve done that.</p>
<p>I’m pretty certain they have tasers…not sure about actual guns but prob. have those too. Everyone who attends football/basketball games must go through a metal detector.</p>
<p>Thanks, folks, for your responses, and for educating me about the expectation that all resource officers will carry weapons. My issue isnt with police officers being armed, btw. Theyre the police theyre going to do their jobs wearing guns. I question the need for them in a low-crime environment.</p>
<p>Ive learned a lot about SROs from reading online today, none of which makes me feel better about having one in my communitys high school. I get that the officers primary responsibilities will be to educate and serve as a resource, in addition to maintaining order. But I feel differently about an educator/resource person with a gun than an educator/resource person without one.</p>
<p>One issue I hadnt considered before is the messy area of confidentiality. When a kid tells the officer something as an educator or a resource, does the officer have the right to respond as a cop? Could a kid potentially incriminate himself by sharing information about drugs or other campus problems? If a minor talks to the SRO as a resource, does a parent have the right to be informed or present?</p>
<p>And I wonder where it stops. Our high school is spread out over several buildings. If Officer Friendly is teaching in a classroom on the top floor of one building, hes not going to be an immediate deterrent or presence when a fight breaks out in the cafeteria, or outside. So should we have two officers? One in every hallway? There are already security cameras everywhere, and stringent procedures for people, including parents, to gain access to the building. This seems like another means of maintaining order through intimidation.</p>
<p>As to funding last year the nearby large city’s school board let 9 resource officers go because they couldnt get grant money to cover their salaries. Federal grant money for the COPS program is dwindling. Whether its paid locally or on another level, those are tax dollars, and Id like to see them used where theyd do the most good. </p>
<p>This experience has allowed us to see that we really do not share this communitys values. Im glad my kids are out.</p>
<p>frazzled,</p>
<p>This is yet another reason for having SROs. You very much appear to be intimidated by the police for little reason. SROs can work with the kids to show that the police aren’t somebody to be scared of. </p>
<p>They can do A LOT of good in the school system.</p>
<p>No armed or unarmed resource officers at DS’s HS. Just a bunch of Jesuits and a dean with mean reputation. No problems observed.</p>
<p>I appreciate the thought, hops_scout, but I’m not intimidated by the police, particularly our local ones - I work in close proximity to our police station and actually think quite highly of the chief. I do not like the thought of a police officer in a school that exhibits no compelling practical need for a police presence. And I don’t like guns in public places unless there is a credible threat.</p>
<p>I hear you on the Jebbies, dietz! :D</p>
<p>I know in our town, and others that I am familiar with, if a police officer is on duty, they HAVE to carry their weapons. It is a rule of the police departments.</p>
<p>Thanks for the news flash.</p>
<p>I agree with you frazzled, and if our school had an armed officer I would question it also. We have a discipline guy, he is armed with a walkie-talkie. It’s not a police intimidation issue, it’s an unnecessary armed force issue. I know quite a few of our local police officers, at least 3 of them have children in the school district.</p>
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<p>They were, and I’m pretty sure there were 6… two per school. And like I said, they weren’t there to enforce discipline, that was what the (unarmed) security guards were for.</p>
<p>Maybe that’s who I’m confusing them with then lol. I don’t know, they all blurred.</p>