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NJ Town Will Place Permanent Armed Cop At Every School
By
Ben Yakas
Published Dec 23, 2012
Modified Dec 23, 2012
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Dec 23, 2012
Modified Dec 23, 2012
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NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre suggested on Friday that the only reasonable reaction to the deadly Newtown school shootings that left 28 people dead, including 20 children, was for armed guards be placed in every school. Now, Marlboro Township in NJ will become the first town in America to do so: “We’ve made a collective decision as a town that we need armed security in each of our schools,” Mayor Jonathan Hornik told the Post. “With this new evil, you can’t just sit there and hope that it doesn’t happen in your town. We must protect our kids.”
Marlboro Township, which has a population of approximately 40,000 residents, already had voted to enact the new policy before LaPierre's polarizing speech. Each of their nine schools—one kindergarten, five elementary, two middle and one high school—will have an armed guard; the town is also considering fortifying entrances with steel doors and bulletproof glass and installing surveillance cameras “all over.”
They expect the officers will be in place by January: "The protocols for these policemen are being written during the winter break with key input provided by police and school district administrators," said Board President Michael Lilonsky. Hornik noted this would be a pricey endeavor: "It's going to be expensive," Hornik said. "But I think it's definitely worth paying."
No other school district in the tri-state area has joined in with them yet, but a spokesman for the New York School Boards Association said, “If a district in New York state were to pursue that same solution — to bring armed police officers into the schools — we would support that decision.” Department of Education spokeswoman Marge Feinberg was quick to note that won't be happening in NYC: “We are not considering having armed security officers in our buildings.”
Appearing on Meet The Press this morning, LaPierre pointed to Israel as a model for the type of school security system the NRA will push for: "Israel had a whole lot of school shootings until they did one thing: They said 'we're going to stop it,' and they put armed security in every school and they have not had a problem since then," he said. The group has named former Rep. Asa Hutchinson as national director of the program, and hope that volunteers from the group's 4.3 million members will help guard children.
Tagged
marlboro township
armed cops
wayne lapierre
guns
newtown shooting
NRA
new jersey
nj
gun violence
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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