Metal detectors in schools

Keeping our campuses safe has become a very serious topic or at least it needs to be, as incidents are happening more frequently than not.  Parents, communities, and the media want a tangible guarantee for security at schools like metal detectors, but are metal detectors the answer to the security problem in our schools? The more research I do, the more I lean towards, not so much.  

First of all, it would be very costly. Where in the world would schools get funding for metal detectors? The government? Not a chance! Even if there was a special grant they could receive, how would they be able to continue to pay for the upkeep such as maintenance, replacements and operation staff?

Secondly, how would metal detectors help in the cases when such incidents occur outside on school grounds? It doesn’t seem as though the security of metal detectors could enhanced a student’s safety enough to prevent those types of incidents.

Lastly, how would the school districts avoid making schools feel as “prison-like” environments. Ultimately in this case, I believe that school spirit would probably be directly impacted in a negative way with such protocols.

At this point, I don’t think metal detectors would benefit schools very much, but perhaps putting a strong protocol in place may help improve the feeling of security back in schools, parents and the community. By creating programs that help educate and promote these protocols to students and parents throughout the year and year after year, I am certain it would make a difference in preparing for such incidents. I believe that most fall outs happen from the lack of education, so if our schools could just spend a bit more time emphasizing on the importance of knowing what to do in certain situations, with conducting mock drills and information sessions, it may better the outcomes of tragic events.

Making college a safe haven again

With all the activity that has been happening with shootings at schools, I thought this blog was interesting and at the same time, extreme. Posted on freerepublic.com, this blog talks about how we should go about creating a “safe zone” at schools and colleges.

Dr. Kevin “Coach” Collins, the writer for this blog website, coach is right.com, is an adjunct professor of Behavioral Science at several colleges in the NYC area. He is also a member of the American Mensa and the Sons of the American Revolution and holds a doctoral degree in Public Administration. His name “coach” comes from his love of playing and teaching basketball. “Coach” Dr. Collins has also recently completed Subrosa, a novel of political intrigue.

“Ignore the Constitution and save lives!” is the name of his blog where Dr. Collins reveals his opinion on how to stop these heinous crimes that always seem to catch us “off guard”. Dr. Collins believes that in order for universities to be “on guard” several things need to take place – a push for gun control, which includes eliminating guns all together, more police security coverage around the campuses, the use of metal detectors, background screening for students with mental health issues and even students that have previously served in the military. He really emphasis on former military service and poverty stricken students being victims suicidal intentions which seems to be one of the root causes for mass murdering.  

I agree that more action needs to take place in order to make universities a safe haven again for students such as high security accountability and more metal detectors, but I think some of Dr. Collins other suggestions are a bit extreme. I don’t think that focusing on certain students that would be categorized under either “poor” or a former military student would prevent many of these events that, again, happen very unexpectedly. For example, just last year a 19 year old math major decided to step on UT grounds in Austin and started shooting and then shot himself. He was neither formerly in military service nor poverty stricken. How do you explain that?

Universities need to ensure the safety of their students, but “singling out” people, has never been the popular thing to do.