XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, talk.politics.guns, aus.politics   
   XPost: sac.politics   
   From: community-gun-sellers@barackobama.com   
      
   A school district in central Colorado announced on Monday that   
   it has upped the firepower for its armed security patrol   
   division, reigniting a debate about what some see as the over-   
   militarization of school security personnel.   
      
   The Douglas County School District spent $12,300 on 10 semi-   
   automatic Bushmaster rifles and equipment back in January, but   
   several school board members were only notified of the purchase   
   recently, according to the school district's public information   
   officer Paula Hans.   
      
   The rifles will be assigned to the district's eight armed   
   security patrol, Hans told ABC News today. She explained that   
   the officers, who already have handguns, still need to go   
   undergo rifle training with the local sheriff's department   
   before they are qualified to use the weapons.   
      
   "The decision to buy these guns were part of a proactive   
   approach to figure out how to best protect students and staff in   
   our district that sprawls across approximately 900 square   
   miles," Hans said. "Richard Payne, the district's director of   
   safety and security, wanted to make sure his officers have all   
   the tools necessary if we have to respond to an incident to keep   
   our students, staff safe."   
      
   While the school's armed security officers are on the duty, the   
   rifles will be "stored in locking mechanisms" in school district   
   vehicles and stored "in a safe during off-duty hours in the   
   security office off school property," Hans said.   
      
   School board member Wendy Vogel told ABC affiliate KMGH that she   
   wished the school board was given the opportunity to discuss the   
   purchase of the guns before they were made. Vogel said she only   
   learned on Monday that the rifles were purchased.   
      
   "We’ve got to keep our kids safe, and we’ve got to keep our   
   staff and community safe, but in my opinion, that’s the role of   
   law enforcement," Vogel told KMGH. "It's not the role of a   
   public school district."   
      
   Vogel did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for   
   additional comment.   
      
   Another school board member, Meghann Silverthorn, told ABC News   
   today that the conversation about the rifles began in July 2015   
   and that some board members were elected later on in November,   
   so they might have been left out of the loop.   
      
   "Also, purchases only of $75,000 or more typically go before the   
   board," she said. "This was way below that."   
      
   Silverthorn said she thinks "the reason people found out about   
   it is that someone was looking at our financial transparency   
   website and got alarmed like, 'Whoa, what's that?'"   
      
   She added that "the district makes hundreds of expenditures   
   every day, and some wires may have crossed" but she's happy to   
   talk to anyone who believes more discussion is necessary.   
      
   The miscommunication in the district about the purchase is   
   "troubling," according to school safety and security expert   
   Kenneth Trump, who is president of National School Safety and   
   Security Services, a private consulting firm based in Cleveland.   
      
   Trump added that he hadn't heard of school security officers   
   equipped with such firepower and that he thinks the school will   
   need to have "important, necessary conversations about   
   implementation."   
      
   "The devil is often in the details of implementation, and this   
   is what concerns me," Trump said. "They will need to think about   
   where the officers store it and how they will access it in the   
   case of an emergency."   
      
   http://abcnews.go.com/US/colorado-school-district-arm-security-   
   patrol-semi-automatic/story?id=38513915   
       
      
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