Police Presence

[TheVictors]

Right inside the front door of my son's Elementary School this morning when I dropped him off at school. Armed Denver Police officer who was making eye contact with and greeting every parent and person walking in the door.

I imagine his is not the only school with additional security measures but what a sad comment on things when an Elementary School feels it is necessary to have police presence.

 

[byco42]

There were always cops in our schools, but it was not to shoot potential whack-jobs as it was to be an iconic presence of good in our neighborhood. My LL football coach was often in uniform on the sidelines, armed and we thought it was the coolest fuckin thing in the world. That and having Ron Kramer on the sidelines as a coach as well.

 

[JScottWriter]

My wife and sons school use to have a police officer at school all year until budget cuts kicked in a couple of years ago. Growing up I remember my schools having one also.

 

[TheVictors]

Yeah, I know it's nothing new for schools to have police -- esp in certain areas and more likely for HS ages -- but this was new at our school and it was clear there was an intent to having the cop there.

 

[Michchamp]

we never had cops in our schools, but I do remember one time Brooks Patterson showed up at my high school and practically threatened to castrate us if we drank and drove

given his own history, I'd be willing to wager that he and his aides were probably drunk when they drove there...

another time they hired some motivational speaker who had come from a poor family to become a state champion wrestler, West Point grad, and decorated Vietnam vet, then sank into alcoholism before getting sober and... well... becoming a motivational speaker. I forget what his point was, and he generally glossed over the decade he spent as an alcoholic, so it was hard to really learn from his experience.

It motivated me to avoid doing anything that would lead to me becoming a motivational speaker.

 

[tsmith7559]

we barely had cops in our township(65,000 pop.) ....no crime at all. Although, today things have changed there

 

[tinselwolverine]

We have one full-time cop at Ann Arbor Pioneer high school, that was his regular gig.

I think he was there though, more to protect the school and property and teachers and so forth, from riffraff kids, than protecting the kids from whacked out nut jobs.

 

[TheVictors]

US Marine Corps, retired.

 

[evolutionkb]

Bunch of school closings in the area from retard kids making threats.

 

[byco42]

Bunch of school closings in the area from retard kids making threats.

Can't say "retard." "Stupid moron who should be smacked" is the PC term.

 

[Mitchrapp]

The only cops we had at my HS was for a drug bust. Though I'm not sure how I'd feel if cops were in my kids school, these days I'd probably be okay with it. Too much bad shit going on.

 

[Michchamp]

The only cops we had at my HS was for a drug bust. Though I'm not sure how I'd feel if cops were in my kids school, these days I'd probably be okay with it. Too much bad shit going on.

yeah, I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing. it's acceptable as a first step toward reducing school violence. the next step would be programs intended to target the underlying causes of these sorts of things.

but I would not want the police to use the opportunity just to bust the Jeff Spicoli types; high school is too early to ruin kids lives in the "drug war." violence is a different story though.

 

[rumseyhouse77]

We have one full-time cop at Ann Arbor Pioneer high school, that was his regular gig.

I think he was there though, more to protect the school and property and teachers and so forth, from riffraff kids, than protecting the kids from whacked out nut jobs.

Or at least the kids thought he was there to protect property, etc. Kids shouldn't be thinking that they need to be protected from a wacko with an assualt weapon. Sadly, in this day and age they do.

 

[tinselwolverine]

Or at least the kids thought he was there to protect property, etc. Kids shouldn't be thinking that they need to be protected from a wacko with an assualt weapon. Sadly, in this day and age they do.

It wasn't this day and age, though, when I went to high school.

 

[rumseyhouse77]

It wasn't this day and age, though, when I went to high school.

Me neither. I never thought about this when I was a kid. Worst thing that might happen is some kids would vandalize the school, or kids would get in fights. There was one war protest that my older sister took part in at the high school, but it was not violent. The police were there, but I think it was mostly just to keep order and prevent things from getting out of hand.

Oh, and there was an incident when I was in junior high where the husband of a junior high teacher shot her and himself in their car, but it wasn't at the school. That was a very shocking event.

 

[tsmith7559]

It wasn't this day and age, though, when I went to high school.

so what has changed since the 70's????
school shootings were unheard of

1. divorce rate skyrocketing....how many kids/young adults do these crimes from single family homes???
2. religion......we have systematically taken religion out of the public square/schools through court actions. I wonder how many of these kids/young adults committing these crimes attend church regularly?? Obviously the country has gone downhill morally in 35 years.
3. Movies/video games......we sure have come along way in 35yrs with violent games/movies...remember pong? lol, hardly violent.

 

[schles192]

You left out upbringing; kids used to get an ass kicking when they did wrong.

 

[tsmith7559]

You left out upbringing; kids used to get an ass kicking when they did wrong.

its hard when your in a one parent family....

 

[Thumb]

so what has changed since the 70's????
school shootings were unheard of

1. divorce rate skyrocketing....how many kids/young adults do these crimes from single family homes???
2. religion......we have systematically taken religion out of the public square/schools through court actions. I wonder how many of these kids/young adults committing these crimes attend church regularly?? Obviously the country has gone downhill morally in 35 years.
3. Movies/video games......we sure have come along way in 35yrs with violent games/movies...remember pong? lol, hardly violent.

And yet when some guy goes on a shooting/bomb spree at an abortion clinic, it's obvious he goes to church often.

You're making the assumption that lack of church = violent people, when there is no evidence to support that.

 

[tsmith7559]

And yet when some guy goes on a shooting/bomb spree at an abortion clinic, it's obvious he goes to church often.

You're making the assumption that lack of church = violent people, when there is no evidence to support that.

nope. Just stating the morality of the country has gone downhill in the last 35 yrs and coincidently that the church has had its attacks escalate in the same timeframe. I have alot of ?? behind my statements, just making an observation