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According to reports, a security officer credited with capturing one of the suspects when a school fired in Colorado fired his gun inside the school, highlighting new questions about the use of firearms. private guards in schools.
STEM School Highlands Ranch, located outside Denver, was hired by a security officer, a former unidentified Marine. He had been out of public view since Tuesday when two suspects opened fire on the charter school, killing one student and injuring eight people.
On Thursday, the Associated Press confirmed reports that he fired his gun, citing a law enforcement official familiar with the case.
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Contract security officers, who may or may not be armed, differ from school resource officers, who are sworn police officers with tactical training who spend time developing relationships with schools.
Even experts in the field of school safety are divided on the type of staff that leads to a "safer" school.
School resource officers are "carefully selected and specifically trained," said Mo Canady, executive director of the professional association of these officers. The group trains thousands of police in the manner of developing relationships with young people.
"We want the gun to be in good hands," said Canady.
A police officer hugs his family after being evacuated to Northridge Recreation Center after a shootout at STEM School Highlands Ranch. (Photo: Michael Ciaglo, Getty Images)
Most schools do not have a school resource officer
In fact, most public schools do not have a school resource officer. Only about 40% employ one, said Jeff Allison, a special advisor to the International Association of Campus Administrators.
Other options for schools include the recruitment of a retired law enforcement officer, the creation of an internal school police service, the outsourcing of the police on leave and pay their overtime to work during school hours, or even convince school parents who are sworn officers.
Ken Trump, a longtime expert in the field of school safety, believes that the best option is to have a professional and qualified law enforcement officer in a school.
"The police are trained to take into account that there is a much larger civilian population in a public place where an armed conflict could occur," said Trump, who is not related to anyone. with the president.
But Trump admitted that even the best training can not predict how people will react in a life-threatening situation. For example, last year, the resource officer at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, failed to find and apprehend the shooter who killed 17 students.
"You do not know what their emotional reaction to stress will be," said Trump.
"Are you going to shoot this person?
At least three students were hailed as heroes for disarming one of the suspects during Tuesday's shooting. One of them, Kendrick Castillo, was shot during the fight. A second, Joshua Jones, returns home after being hit twice.
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The school's armed security guard was employed by Boss High Level Protection, which had been created by a SWAT team leader who responded to the Columbine High School shootings in 1999.
Grant Whitus, the owner of the company, told The Associated Press that the guard was rushing to the scene of the shooting and had confronted one of the armed students in a hallway.
"He does not even realize how many lives he has saved by stopping a school shootout," Whitus said Wednesday.
Sheldon Greenberg, professor of management and public safety leadership at Johns Hopkins University School of Education in Baltimore, said that private contract security companies worked perfectly for many schools, especially because they were less expensive and that schools had more flexibility to schedule their hours.
"People tend to think that contract security is a poorly prepared police officer," he said. "Even if they are contract security guards … they can be pretty good, they can be armed or not, there is a whole range of examples."
And, he said, there is a great misconception that any security person will arrest a gunman.
"Under the best circumstances, a police officer will shoot exactly 27% of the time," said Greenberg, a former police officer. "Are you going to shoot this person with kids running? It's not as simple as you think."
Trevor Hughes contributed to the Highlands Ranch, Colorado report. The Associated Press also contributed to this report.
The education coverage at USA TODAY is made possible in part through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation does not make any editorial contribution.
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