5 Laws That Can Get Bipartisan Support After Florida School Shooting

By Napp Nazworth, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, February 20, 2018

3. Armed Security in Schools

A man placed in handcuffs is led by police near Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School following a shooting incident in Parkland, Florida, February 14, 2018, in a still image from video. | (Photo: WSVN.com via Reuters)

The number of schools with specialized armed police officers, known as school resource officers, has risen dramatically in recent years, due in part to a federal funding program known as Cops in Schools.

According to a U.S. Department of Education report for the 2015-2016 school year, 42 percent of all public schools have a full-time or part-time SRO, 10.9 percent have regular police officers, and 19.8 percent have security guards. Larger schools were much more likely to have armed police. Seventy-seven percent of schools with an enrollment of 1,000 or more had an SRO.

One measure being discussed or implemented at the state and local level is to increase the number of police, armed security and SROs in schools. East Brunswick School District in New Jersey decided Thursday, after the Parkland shooting, it would have armed police in every one of its schools through the entire school day.

Some conservatives, such as Matt Walsh and Rush Limbaugh, have suggested increasing the number of armed security in schools.

Napp Nazworth, Ph.D., is political analyst and politics editor for The Christian Post. Contact: napp.nazworth@christianpost.com, @NappNazworth (Twitter)