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More Tasers in more schools

I have to admit some surprise at most of the comments on our story about Greensboro police officers now deploying Tasers in public schools.

The issue isn't so much that the officers now are equipped with the stun guns; I agree that Tasers present a sensible and usually safer alternative to the use of deadly force (i.e., guns).

How could the schools allow sheriff's deputies to use the weapons without giving city police the same latitude?

The issue is communication.

The school board should have known. the head of safety for the school system, former Acting Police Chief Anthony Scales, should have known. The general public should have known.

None did, until asked about it Wednesday..

Had the story not broken, we may not have known until an officer used one of the weapons.

School board Chairman Alan Duncan said the police have a right to arm officers as they see fit.

Scales adds that school system contracts with law enforcement does not require police to inform the district when they change officers' equipment.

But common sense and common courtesy say the police ought to let people know.

Given the ongoing controversy over stun guns and lingering questions about their safety, the least Chief Bellamy should have done is told us something.

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Posted by Allen Johnson on Thursday, September 24, 2009 at 10:47 am

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SueP

September 24, 2009 - 11:49 am EDT

I wonder without accusation if the policy had been communicated but got lost in electronic communication. After all, the AF-1 flyby in NYC *was* sent to certain people who didn't think it a big enough deal to re-communicate with urgency. Something about "after the horses are gone" seems to apply to both situations (which are not really comparable, except about communication).

Could you find out if NO communication was sent, or if some was and it wasn't forwarded up the food chain?

Brian Ewing

September 24, 2009 - 12:48 pm EDT

SueP,

To be clear that does not seem to be the case here. I asked schools safety administrator Tony Scales, school board Chairman Alan Duncan, Sgt. J. Heard (Greensboro police supervisor over school resource officers) and police Chief Tim Bellamy all if official word was sent or if they felt official notice should have been given before the change in armament occurred. Scales, Duncan and Heard said no official word was given and Bellamy said he felt no need to give official word.

Doug Johnson

September 24, 2009 - 2:10 pm EDT

I went to school for years!
We had no police, are safety officers!
What went wrong?

Allen Johnson

September 24, 2009 - 2:41 pm EDT

Kids seemed to get bigger and meaner. And parents seemed to get less supportive.

Paul Daniels

September 24, 2009 - 10:00 pm EDT

Allen:

Unfortunately I think you are right.

Paul Daniels

September 24, 2009 - 9:59 pm EDT

Allen/Brian:

In Feb 2008 Sheriff Barnes posted a notice that a deputy had used a taser on a NE Guilford High School Student at NEHS. Why didn't folks understand this to mean that deputies were carrying and using tasers? Here's the link:
http://www.guilfordcountysheriff.com/content/view/80/98/

Jeff Deal

September 25, 2009 - 12:00 am EDT

Paul, I guess to some, the obvious isn't so obvious. Maybe the GPD SRO's were supposed to pack squirt guns in lieu of tasers to keep at least one BOE demagogue at bay.

Paul Daniels

September 25, 2009 - 10:21 am EDT

Jeff:

I have never considered myself very good at grasping subtleties, and even I got this one.

Best regards,
Paul

Doug Johnson

September 25, 2009 - 6:12 am EDT

Kids are getting bigger? Do you mean we are becoming a fat nation?
That I agree with.
Meaner? maybe! Seems I had my moments.
The word may be vicious. They know if they go to court, nothing will happen to them!
Lack of parent support? AMEN!
In my day, you got your butt tore up in school, and the got it at home.
Touch a kid now and you get arrested!

Paul Daniels

September 29, 2009 - 10:34 am EDT

Allen, Brian, et. al.

I try to be the first to admit when I get it wrong. My post with regard to the SRO using a taser at NEHS in 2006 had to do with a sheriff's deputy. The sheriff came to the school board in 2006 and informed the board that his deputies would be carrying tasers. Recently, the High Point Police Department notified the school board that its officers would be carrying tasers. The point that Allen made was that the Greensboro Police Department did not notify the board that its officers would be carrying tasers, which is true.

Sorry for the mixup. It is easy, sometimes, to miss what is being said at school board meetings if one is not paying strict attention. I will do my best to listen better in the future.

Paul Daniels,
District 5