Virginia Association of Police Chiefs: Stewart’s armed guards in school plan not a good idea

Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart called for armed retired police officers to serve in county schools to protect students. 

I contaceted Virginia Association of Police Chief’s Executive Director Dana Schrad. 

Here’s the interview: 

PL: Are programs like this, where retired police officers serve as armed guards inside public schools, already in place in Virginia? 

VACP: Not as part of a statewide program.  A small number of localities have school security programs that hire retired police officers who served as armed security officers.  However, they are not sworn law enforcement officers, despite the fact that they may have been at one time.  This is not a widespread practice.

PL: How would this affect the roles of School Resource Officers (SRO)? 

VACP: That would depend on the relationship between the school system and the primary law enforcement agency in the locality.  Again, the Prince William County SRO’s are sworn law enforcement officers who work for the county police department.  They meet all of the training and certification requirements of the Commonwealth, and remain under the supervision of the police department. 

The role of the SRO doesn’t change because of the added presence of armed individuals who are not sworn officers who work for the school system.  In many cases, these individuals would have to be private contractors – otherwise, they would be returning to public employment with the school system, which could negatively impact their law enforcement retirement benefits.  These armed private individuals would not automatically be on the police communications system, and would not have the powers of arrest, other than citizen’s arrest.

PL: Who would be the stakeholders in the discussion? 

VACP: Students, teachers, school administrators, parents, law enforcement, county elected officials, and the county’s insurance provider – surely there would be an impact on liability insurance for the school system.

PL: What would the training process look like? 

VACP: That depends on what these individuals would be empowered to do and how they are equipped. 

PL: Is this is a good idea? 

VACP: Most law enforcement organizations, including the VACP, do not think so.  A better approach is to follow crime prevention best practices to provide safe rooms for students and staff, including surveillance cameras, secured access points and internal alert systems, and have staff training on emergency response, etc. 

Police officers and school staff should have ready access to important medical supplies and be trained on how to use them, primarily tourniquets. Every classroom should have access to an emergency alert system tied into the police dispatch center that displays digital location information to the dispatch center for quicker response. 

And students and staff should be trained and constantly reminded to alert school personnel of individuals who may have violent tendencies or have threatened the school in any way.  County law enforcement and school personnel, including the SRO, should monitor social media closely and know the students and FORMER students well enough to be aware of red flag issues that call for mental health intervention.