I work as a Security Officer in a public school. I have been working in security field for 16 years in domestic and international assignments. The shooting in Newtown has affected all the school staff members and the security officers in my department. We have similar security procedure that was in place at Sandy Hook Elementary. However, we have a Treat Assessment and Emergency Response Team that are responsible for prevent serious threats and taking care of evacuations. At my school I am alone and unarmed. I cannot protect myself and the students if a shooting will take place. An unarmed security is like a Police Officer without a gun. Every school needs to have Armed Security personnel that are trained for shooting situation inside and outside the building. But just to be armed is not the final solution. There are other things we need to take in consideration to improve security. The exterior of the building should be gated and secure. At the main entrance of the school should be an armed officer with metal detector device. Another will be at the camera to monitor the hallways and exterior of the building. A third one will patrol the inside and outside of the building. Each school needs at least a team of two armed security officers, but the number of officers it’s really depending on the number of students and the size of the school. Teachers should not be armed at all! With a good security plan, and armed security officers that are getting trained every month for shooting situation, we could reduce the risks of a mass shooting and reduce the number of casualties. The first responders have to be already inside the school. The time from when we call 911 is too long for an armed police response to come to help. The time is critical in a shooting situation. We sow that with this recent shooting in Connecticut. In Israel there are armed security guards and metal detector in every school. Teachers are not armed! The Israeli soldiers and some civilians have AR 15 on them while they walk in the street or going to the movie theaters. They are good people armed with assault rifle. But assault rifle should be ban to civilians in this country, and only allowed them to law enforcement and security personnel. Civilians without a good reason should not have assault rifle in their hands. And gun control is not going to prevent someone to go to a school or another place and kill innocent people. The will be always bad people with bad intentions with or without gun control. We need more mental health control and background checks before to sell a gun. We need also to setup a psychological test to see if individual are mentally fit to have a gun on their hands. Having armed security personnel is not the final solution, but is helping to protect their lives and reduce the loss of innocent’s lives. We need to protect our children against every threat. We need to be more proactive and less defensive. It will not be a closet that will protect us from a crazy person. It’s time to stop to deny and accept that the reality is changed. Let’s honor the children of Sandy Hook elementary by improving security in American school with effective procedures, and making the school a safe, secure place to learn.
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