Nutter: arming all school police 'ludicrous,' 'insane'
Complete coverage of the Philadelphia School District by the Philadelphia Inquirer's Kristen Graham.
Nutter: arming all school police 'ludicrous,' 'insane'
Kristen Graham
Mayor Nutter’s reaction to the National Rifle Association’s suggestion that armed guards be placed in every American school?
“That message was an insult to the lives of those children,” the mayor said in an interview Friday, referencing the grade schoolers murdered a week ago in Newtown, Ct. “That we would face the prospects of shootouts in our schools, and utilize the precious and declining resources in public education to put armed personnel in every school is insane.”
Nutter dismissed the idea as coming from someone “who had clearly watched too many old Westerns” and said that NRA executive vice-president Wayne LaPierre lost all credibility because he "didn't have the guts, didn't have the sensibility to at least acknowledge that there is a gun problem in the United States of America."
Nutter is the parent of a daughter who attends Philadelphia public schools.
Yes, some Philadelphia public schools have unacceptable levels of violence, but universal guns are not the answer, he said.
An unarmed police force monitors the Philadelphia School District, with officers permanently stationed inside many schools and others making do with roving patrols. Armed city police officers do work inside some of the city’s larger high schools.
Every Philadelphia public high school also has a metal detector or hand-held scanner.
The idea of arming officers in Philadelphia schools has surfaced in the past.
In 2004, then-schools chief Paul Vallas said he wanted to place armed officers in high schools, an idea that was staunchly opposed by Mayor John Street and others who believe that the move would create a police state inside schools, and inappropriately criminalize behavior that ought to be handled with discipline. More behavior supports and front-end intervention is the answer, not armed officers, they said.
Vallas’ suggestion came after a Strawberry Mansion student was gunned down near the school.
But the idea never really gained traction.
After "Assault on Learning," the Inquirer's investigative series on school violence, ran in 2011, an administration official said that both Nutter and Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey believed putting city police inside some schools was one way to help curb violence.
A city police officer, Chief Inspector Cynthia Dorsey, is now head of the school district's safety force.
- Thanks lopes for confirming what we all already knew...liberals are sadists and bullies.
— Professor1982 - you are a foolish person who does not think. you write stupid things often. your arrogance is matched only by your incapacity to understand complex issues.
professor shoot from the hip and condemns every thing that show up on fox news.
i hope that the gun in your mouth shoots only water. of course i want you to live on and prosper.— the lopez! - why does the president have armed guards?
— hannibal barca - "why does the president have armed guards?"
Even though you had stiff competition from the "professor", I'm nominating this comment for 'dumbest post of the year' on philly.com. Congrats!— wokmaster - Columbine did have an armed guard, his name is Deputy Neal Gardner and he said he could do nothing. They were in the library, he could get no clear shot. This is not the answer. — JonKap
- Nutter is not often right, but now he is right on the mark. Bulls eye! It's bad enough that the thugs on the Philly Police all have guns, most of them are questionable, but the School District Police are the bottom of the barrel. They are barely capable to hold keys not to mention a deadly weapon. There are so many emotionally unstable loose cannon thug types that are sent as part of the Brut Squad. I fear that we would see one of their guns being used on a student in the heat of passion or having a student wrestle a gun away from one of these unfortunate goons. Nutter's right, it's insane. — DarnelX
- I bet Mayor Nutter has armed protection.— everettsleon
- We had a cop at my school Simon Gratz high. Why is this idea so far fetched? A window dressing gun ban is going to stop the next tragedy at a school?— MrBigDizzle
- This ridiculous hysteria ruined our airports, we can at least spare the schools.— foghelmut
- Really? What having an Armed cop in the schools will what? Slow down the line to the cafeteria? Cause a back-up in the bathroom? Cause the city to hire screeners for the kid's bags? Get real dude or did yoy=u just want you name on the internet????
The problem is not that is far fetched. The problem is Nutter doesn't want to pay the difference for ARMED Guards in Schools. This is not a new issue. A gun ban will not stop a determined person from going to a school and shooting someone.- "Armed city police officers do work inside some of the city’s larger high schools." ......Am I missing something here?!
— tim17600 - Who wrote this? And how is it that they do not know the difference between "due" and "do"? Don't they teach grammar in journalism school?— 215cookin
- You are absolutely correct 215cookin. The foundation of any good journalism is GRAMMAR. How can journalists be taken seriously if they can't spell, or have their work checked before publication? The decline of journalism continues after the loss of many in-print newspapers with poor spelling and editing (or lack thereof) online.
- Nutter is... nuts. Is it better to have shoot outs at our schools when only the bad guy has a gun?— Uncle Carm
During the school year, you’ll frequently find her hosting live chats about the district on Philly.com. Please do pass along the scoop about what’s going on at your Philadelphia public school; Kristen welcomes tips, story ideas and witty banter at kgraham@phillynews.com or 215-854-5146.
You can also follow Kristen on Twitter here.
