FLAGS TO FLY AT HALF-STAFF TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18
FLAGS TO FLY AT HALF-STAFF TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18: As per Executive Order No. 119 from Governor Chris Christie, all flags are to flown at half-staff on Tuesday, December 18, 2012 in recognition and mourning of the passing of the victims in Newtown, CT.
What Should Be Done To Help Prevent Future Mass Murders At Schools?
With the horror of the Newtown, Connecticut shootings fresh in our minds, people everywhere are asking “What can be done to help protect our children from such violence at school?” While I do not pretend to have all of the answers, there is one thing that we should all recognize as a relatively simple measure that could help prevent these mass killings at schools in the immediate future.
A law enforcement official, trained to handle such situations should assigned to every public school in the country. The officer would have one job responsibility: protect the students and faculty from an armed intruder. To make sure that the officer does not get involved in any other school issues (fist-fights between students, drugs on school grounds, etc.) the officer would be prohibited from engaging in any other activity while on school grounds.
Now let’s look at the cost of this proposed solution. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there were 98,817 public schools during the 2009-2010 school year. Source: http://www.infoplease.com/askeds/number-us-public-schools.html. The median expected salary with benefits for a typical police patrol officer in the United States is $72,467. Source: https://swz.salary.com/SalaryWizard/police-officer-Salary-Details.aspx?hdcbxbonuse=off&isshowpiechart=true&isshowjobchart=false&isshowsalarydetailcharts=false&isshownextsteps=false&isshowcompanyfct=false&isshowaboutyou=false.
So a rough estimate of the total cost to put such an officer in each public school in the United States would be approximately $7 billion per year. The U.S. federal government could provide such funds to each school earmarked exclusively the hiring of such an officer.
I know $7 billion may sound like a lot of money, but let’s put it into perspective. The U.S. government now borrows approximately $5 billion every business day. Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505144_162-57376464/12-scary-debt-facts-for-2012/. Moreover, according to the “Wastebook 2012,” the government spent over $18 billion this year on projects (e.g., a robotic rodents, studies on creating better video gaming sticks, sending a comedy troupe on tour in India, pennies that cost two cents to make, etc.) that clearly do not rank higher in importance than protecting our children while at school. Source: http://www.coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?a=Files.Serve&File_id=b7b23f66-2d60-4d5a-8bc5-8522c7e1a40e.
So let’s insist that, at a minimum, Congress take $7 billion per year away from those programs and put it towards something that really matters – the safety of our children at school).