I remember not too long ago campus security didn't need any guns or tazers.
If I acted up I got my ass whooped by the VP then sent home to get it kicked by my Dad.
What happened?
I blame the liberals for all their "it'll hurt their self-esteem if we use corporal punishment' that has made kids nowadays savages.
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City police may wield stun guns in schools
Thursday, September 30, 2004
GIGI DOUBAN and CAROL ROBINSON
News staff writers
Police in Birmingham schools could soon be carrying stun guns that deliver an incapacitating electrical jolt up to 21 feet away, school and police officials said.
In addition to Mace and pistols, stun guns would be an option a school officer could use to get violent situations under control, school Superintendent Wayman B. Shiver said.
"You can talk to kids and try to calm them down and not use force," Shiver said. "But what you have to recognize is, when people get highly agitated, and most especially if they're under the influence of something, they have uncontrollable behavior."
Shiver said of the officers, "We don't want them using guns in our schools, so you need to have some alternative method of controlling behavior."
Birmingham Police Chief Annetta Nunn has signed off on a plan for resource officers to carry high-voltage stun guns in schools.
The stun guns will be optional for the officers, Lt. Henry Irby said. Any officer who wants to carry the weapon must go through a four-hour training session and must experience the jolt firsthand.
Irby said the stun gun shouldn't cause concern. "It's relatively unharmful," he said.
Dexter Massey, president of Parker High School PTA, said he worries stun guns might harm children with serious medical conditions such as heart problems, diabetes, or even obesity. "There are some questions that need to be answered," he said.
The stun gun is capable of delivering a 50,000-volt, 26-watt, 162-amp jolt. A person can be incapacitated long enough to be subdued, but the weapons do not deliver enough electricity to interfere with a pacemaker or to damage a heart, authorities say.
Irby said the policy for use of the weapons in schools will be the same as it is on the streets: The escalation of force dictates the choice of weapon.
"If the officer has that level of threat, then he or she should not hesitate because it's a child," Irby said. "If the threat is there, the officer has to take the action."
School officials recently have faced mounting concerns over violence in schools, Shiver said. Six students were taken into custody Wednesday morning after three separate fights outside West End High School during a routine fire drill. The students were charged with violating the student code of conduct.
On Friday, a mother went to pick up her Putnam Middle School daughter who was suspended for fighting, and ended up being charged with assault against the other girl.
A school security official said stun guns fall between Mace and pistols in an officer's options.
"Officers are much less likely to regret using a stun gun on a student than a gun," said Aaron Moyana, school safety and dropout prevention officer for Birmingham schools.
Moyana wants parents to rest assured that stun guns won't be used indiscriminately. And for those who don't believe situations ever escalate to the point of needing stun guns, Moyana said, "some of them need to spend a day in a school" when violence occurs.
Hoover and Jefferson County school resource officers do not carry stun guns.
Steve Tuttle, director of communications for Taser International Inc. in Arizona, said stun guns are in use nationwide in elementary, junior high and high schools. Birmingham police use stun guns made by the company.
A recent survey of 5,500 law enforcement agencies that use the weapons showed 32 percent armed their school resource officers with stun guns. In addition, Tuttle said, Taser guns are carried by officers at 233 colleges and universities.