Before we even start discussing whether it’s a good idea for DISD’s police officers to be armed with “five assault-style rifles purchased for a new SWAT-like response team,” according to the Morning News, let’s think for a minute about the headline on the story: “DISD squad armed to the teeth; SWAT-like Special Response Team ready for disasters, but some want more focus on basics.”
You don’t have to even read the story to know the message the News wants you to take from this one: DISD has too many guns and isn’t handling basic security well-enough. Shouldn’t that be a conclusion that the reader derives AFTER reading the story, instead of beforehand?
Anyway, now back to the issue at hand. Is it a good idea for DISD’s internal police force, which is responsible for maintaining order on campuses, to continue arming its officers? Many already carry handguns, but the new special response team will be carrying more firepower – about $50,000 worth of new equipment. Well, for a group charged with protecting 200,000 students, faculty, staff and visitors, it makes sense to me to be prepared for almost anything, because we all know that sooner or later, almost anything can happen. The officers are training with Dallas police and following Homeland Security mandates, so it seems as if DISD is doing everything by the book, so to speak. And god forbid the public and media outcry if some bonehead holes up in a school with his or her own arsenal and a couple of hundred hostages, and DISD isn’t prepared to deal with the crisis.
So what’s the rub? Well, according to the News story, “one DISD officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, suggested that the department should instead focus on law enforcement basics, like supplying officers with radar so they can enforce school zone speed limits.” Good point, anonymous one who perhaps was passed over for the special forces team, but that’s the extent of the “some want more focus on the basics” outlined in the story’s headline. Several other school and state experts basically endorsed DISD’s plan.
Not much smoke here that I can see. Meanwhile, today’s gun-toting story with bonus gun picture makes the front page, while yesterday’s story about DISD progress in academics was short and buried somewhere south of the Metro section’s mid-point. Some (or at least one) might say that indicates some unfavorable bias on the part of the News toward DISD…
The Wine Curmudgeon 
Some unfavorable bias? Try 35 years worth.
Then they found out it sells papers in the suburbs and they have stepped on the gas (and on our dedicated students, teachers and parents).
This is a ridiculous waste of money and if it wasn’t potentially dangerous, it would be laughable.
Giving them some SWAT training and a bunch of new toys means they’ll want to use those toys like the real SWAT teams if they’re ever put in the wrong situation. I guess no one remembers the Munich Olympics.
This is a ridiculous waste of money and if it wasn’t potentially dangerous, it would be laughable.
Giving them some SWAT training and a bunch of new toys means they’ll want to use those toys like the real SWAT teams if they’re ever put in the wrong situation. I guess no one remembers the Munich Olympics.
Point 1 Preparation – It’s good to see that DISD is operating “by the book” vis-a-vis training. When it comes to security, we have to expect the unexpected, prepare for the unthinkable, and [insert your favorite motivational maxim here].
Point 2 Allocation – I would think Mayor P.C. would be capitalizing on each and every oppotunity to leverage the DPD’s resources for the benefit of education. In other words, if the district has gaps (i.e. lack of radar equipment) then perhaps the city should attempt to fill them. Hey Tom, got any old or unused (but still functioning) radar guns laying around? You promised, we doubted, you emphatically reiterated your promise.
Point 3 Bias – Guns sell more papers than butter, whether they’re in the hands of the good guys or the bad.
Since the crossing guards are employed by the city, I’d be surprised that the school district has any authority to issue speeding tickets. Nice fact checking Kent.
In that John Hinkley graduated from Highland Park, there’s a good chance a school district 100 times it’s size would have a nut case in its midst.
And I suspect that the Va Tech administration would endorse Dallas ISD’s planning.
Since the crossing guards are employed by the city, I’d be surprised that the school district has any authority to issue speeding tickets. Nice fact checking Kent.
In that John Hinkley graduated from Highland Park, there’s a good chance a school district 100 times it’s size would have a nut case in its midst.
And I suspect that the Va Tech administration would endorse Dallas ISD’s planning.
Why? If the Dallas Police Department already has SWAT capability available with a phone call, then why does DISD need it? I can see the advantages of DISD having their own department with regular officers dedicated to patrolling and responding to DISD needs without the distraction of the larger needs of the City. But are existing SWAT teams so busy that we need a dedicated DISD team? And what will they be doing between incidents?
Call me skeptical.
Norm, your sentiments were my first thought, too. But suppose that some horrendous event does occur at a DISD school, and suppose that the Dallas police SWAT team, for whatever reason, doesn’t arrive on the scene quickly enough, and then suppose a bunch of students are harmed or killed. Who is going to be blamed for the tragedy? Naturally, it will be DISD. If DISD is going to be in charge of its own security, I think DISD needs the right to respond quickly with whatever force is appropriate given their officers’ training. And if they’re going to be responsible, then it makes sense to be prepared.
DISD has more than 160,000 students in 225 schools. If some nut job is in one of those schools, will the fact that five of the 225 “campus security professionals” have an M16 knock-off in the trunk of their car make a difference? The police presence is either going to be a deterrent or not.
What’s even worse is the potential that one of these over-glorified security guards who spent an extra day on the range may actually think they are in Delta Force and end up doing more collateral damage than good.
Put 10 cops in a room and 5 of them will want to form a SWAT team. Add it to my inevitable laws of civic government.
DISD has more than 160,000 students in 225 schools. If some nut job is in one of those schools, will the fact that five of the 225 “campus security professionals” have an M16 knock-off in the trunk of their car make a difference? The police presence is either going to be a deterrent or not.
What’s even worse is the potential that one of these over-glorified security guards who spent an extra day on the range may actually think they are in Delta Force and end up doing more collateral damage than good.
Put 10 cops in a room and 5 of them will want to form a SWAT team. Add it to my inevitable laws of civic government.
I think this whole thread of posts sums up DISD’s position nicely on most issues: damned if you do and damned if you don’t.
Your’re right, they will be blamed irregardless, so do the sensible thing, detached from the whining from either side of the issue. Spend the money and time on education (their primary purpose) or additional officers and/or training to step up preventative security measures, but don’t duplicate existing, more experienced, rarely-if-ever-needed SWAT units. Or tell me why the duplication is needed.
As the Morning News reporter who authored the piece in question, I’d like to address a comment left by “LM” who wrote: “Since the crossing guards are employed by the city, I’d be surprised that the school district has any authority to issue speeding tickets. Nice fact checking Kent.”
DISD police is a fully-recognized police agency. Its officers have full police authority anywhere in the city, so long as the area is also within DISD boundaries. So it goes without saying that DISD cops also have jurisdiction in school zones. All they need is the radar equipment.
As the Morning News reporter who authored the piece in question, I’d like to address a comment left by “LM” who wrote: “Since the crossing guards are employed by the city, I’d be surprised that the school district has any authority to issue speeding tickets. Nice fact checking Kent.”
DISD police is a fully-recognized police agency. Its officers have full police authority anywhere in the city, so long as the area is also within DISD boundaries. So it goes without saying that DISD cops also have jurisdiction in school zones. All they need is the radar equipment.
I wonder if this story would have bothered us as much if it hadn’t been placed on the front page.
There’s a lot more than $50,000 at stake with Dallas Achieves but I don’t think the recent update made the front page, did it?
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/education/stories/091307dnmetdisd.c9c28111.html