Editor’s note: Police1 columnist and Street Survival Seminar instructor Dave Smith has written extensively on the subject of arming campus police. In a P1 Exclusive called Shepherds and Wolves: Thoughts on arming those who protect our schools, written in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shooting, Smith said: “A simple truth: there may come a time in any one of these schools where the guardians of these innocents may have to defend them from this type of horrific violence. That moment may be the one single point in time when the violence might be stopped. The problem: the violence will have to be stopped with like force, and in too many campuses and school systems the defenders (the students’ protectors) have no deadly force because they carry no firearms.”
Philadelphia Daily News
PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia School District apparently flunked in reaching the conclusion that state law prevents school police officers from carrying guns on the job.
That conclusion, which the district told the Daily News for a story that ran yesterday, is wrong, according to the state Department of Education.
“There is no law that prohibits school police officers in Pennsylvania from carrying a firearm,” said Michael Race, spokesman for the education department. “The law only sets the training requirements for a school-police officer to carry a firearm.
“That’s straight out of the school code,” he added.
The school-police officers’ union has been pushing to arm its patrol officers, but district officials told the Daily News that it was opposed for several reasons. The district said in a statement that just one assault on school cops involved a weapon over the last two years.
“These statistics do not justify the arming of school police officers,” the statement said. “Furthermore, current Pennsylvania law does not allow the arming of school police officers.”
The district, which has 19 lawyers, was mum on its misreading of the law yesterday.
“We need more time to research the issue,” spokesman Fernando Gallard said.
The Daily News reported that the school officers’ union is calling for its cops who patrol streets around schools to be trained and issued guns, as their jobs are becoming ever more treacherous: The latest school-district numbers reveal that assaults on cops are up 18 percent this school year compared with last year.
In one of those assaults, Officer Michael Alvaro’s bulletproof vest saved him from being stabbed by a robbery suspect near Girls High on Feb. 25.
Tyree Pace, 15, allegedly was trying to rob three Central High School students when he was stopped by Alvaro, who was stationed near Olney Avenue and Broad Street.
Charged as an adult with attempted murder, aggravated assault and five related charges, Pace was ordered held for trial yesterday. His next court date is scheduled for March 30.
Calls to the four School Reform Commission members seeking their stances on whether to arm school officers were not returned.
Philly.com readers, however, were not silent on the issue. More than 800 clicked online to answer this question: Should school cops be allowed to carry guns?
Most, 79 percent, voted “yes”; 21 percent voted “no.”
Copyright 2009 Philadelphia Daily News