Bill Montgomery, Attorney for Maricopa County in Arizona presented four areas that may help prevent school violence. Some of these ideas outlined are controversial, such as arming school personnel, but lawmakers across the country agree that implementation of solid steps is critical to safety in schools.
1. Intervention and Prevention: Set up more conferences for both parents and students to create ongoing awareness of issues. Instill in students the things that they should do if they believe another student has a problem. Address causes of school violence and circumstances that lead to committing violent crimes against educational facilities. To get to the roots of these problems student involvement is of paramount importance.
2. Police Officers as a Visual Deterrent: Police in uniform should be a daily visual presence inside and outside the school. Montgomery has stated that this type of presence may have been enough to cause the shooter at Parkland, Florida to abort his plan.
3. School Resource Officer: This officer would be one more line of visible defense. The officer would be “embedded” and get to know school personnel and students. This officer would be key in recommending school personnel who may take weapons training for emergency situations.
4. Armed School personnel: Some teachers and administrators would be trained in using weapons when a critical situation arises.
Bill Montgomery admits that his plan is just a starting point, and that much more needs to be done. He states that it is critical to instruct teenagers on how to intervene when they know one of their peers is having problems. He believes this is the area that could have the biggest impact on prevention, instead of trying to stop a situation that is already in progress.
