Ariz. sheriff puts armed volunteers at schools

As school parents and volunteer posse members listen, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio speaks with media about his new program providing security around schools in his jurisdiction, at Anthem Elementary School, Jan. 9, 2013, inPhoenix / AP

PHOENIX An Arizona sheriff has launched a plan to have as many as 500 armed volunteers patrol areas just outside schools in an effort to guard against school shootings.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office said Wednesday that the patrols were launched earlier this week at 59 schools in unincorporated areas of metro Phoenix and communities that pay his agency for police services.

Arpaio hopes to have as many as 400 posse volunteers and another 100 volunteers known as reserve deputies take part in the patrols, though they won't all be patrolling at the same time.

• New Conn. gun laws met with opposition
• Schools across U.S. bolstering police presence
• New Jersey town arms its schools

The sheriff says school shootings in Connecticut and elsewhere and last month's arrest of an Arizona student accused of planning an attack at her high school led to his decision to launch the patrols.

He said the volunteers will have "the same training as a regular deputy, same training. So they are well-trained. The only difference with them is they do it for nothing," reports CBS Phoenix affiliate KPHO-TV.

The idea, he added, is to "deter anybody that feels they can come into the school and cause havoc."

[justsjn]

As an Arizonan, there is no other state in the Union that I would rather live (well Texas is an exception). Please; consider us morons, consider us the "wild west", look at us like we're a bunch of backward trigger happy lunatics but when your guns are taken away and innocent civilians are running around defenseless against rabid crime from both American and non-American alike, don't come flocking to us for your freedoms that you took for granted. For this I can promise- Arizonans will not lay down our weapons. We will resist. Senator Feinstein; No Ma'am...

[e-green]

I would not recommend this for most states in the union.
As for my state, nobody cares enough to volunteer for such
school security measures. A lot of people would get the
idea that most of Arizona is as backward as the old "Wild
West" and they may be right. Is there some middle ground?
Yes, states that can afford to could increase the budgets
for mental health care. Schools cannot be made to resemble
high security prisons.

[gpw6211]

lol, so that is your answer to stop the violence? i feel safer already, thank you so much, now if we could just get the whackos doing this to come to you for the money to pay for their counseling.

[gypsyswede]

Obama OKs lifetime Secret Service for presidents

4:19 PM, Jan 10, 2013

by David Jackson, USA TODAY

http://news.cincinnati.com/usatoday/article/1823961

Okay for them, but NOT YOUR CHILDREN

[nygurl1]

We already do that!

[vista8635]

The State of NRA: continual fear, and danger of violent death; And the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.

[vista8635]

I hope that the Smartphone cameras are running when one of those "George Zimmerman wannabes" confronts some salty African-American or Latino teenager wearing a hoodie.

[Gorgor-Gor]

Will they have pink uniforms?

[GOP-R--Con-Men]

Has Sheriff Joe ran background check on his volunteers to see if the have a history of crimes including pedophilia? I bet not!

[gpw6211]

of course they have, dont be stupid, at least he is trying, what is being done in your community? are you volunteering? i bet not!

[REDGUN53]

I think it's an idea that should be adopted every where. There are enough retired or former cops, soldiers, Marines, etc that would volunteer to do this everywhere. We could call them the US Militia. There would have to be training, background checks etc. Low cost and ensures only those serious would put in for it.

[Molly-Pchr]

Most office buildings I enter when I have a work assignment have armed guards now. We can afford to protect ourselves when we're at work, why not defenseless kids? I say good for the sheriff.

[Type_Z]

True, there's a point I hadn't thought of. In the bigger cities large buildings have security, malls, jewelry stores, etc. I really don't like the idea of guns at schools, it is sad state of affairs. An officer can not be in all places at once, he seems like a sitting duck if someone wants entry into a school. I don't know what the answers are.

[ibsteve2u]

They going to give these armed guards a Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory or some other basic psychological evaluation in order to ensure that a) they're not pedophiles and b) they're psychology stable enough to pass a police academy entrance exam - that is, they won't be a threat to the children, the teachers, the non-teaching staff, and delivery personnel in and of themselves?

Further, who is covering the additional insurance risk? Did anybody bother to ask the insurance corporations covering the schools what they think of a bunch of inadequately trained and poorly evaluated armed individuals running around in the presence of children?

I.e., did anybody think this out, or did Arpaio go off like a loaded gun in the hands of a child again?