On Wednesday, February 21, 2018, President Donald Trump announced that he is proposing to post armed military veterans to deter any potential attackers from our schools, which was about time the Federal government took some type of action considering there had been approximately 239 school-related shootings where 438 people have been injured and 138, who had lost their lives according to the Gun Violence Archives. This proposal, of course, was promptly labeled by many politicians and state officials as “ludicrous” because even though military veterans familiarity with firearms is better than the national average, it would still take multiple troops to fully secure a single school, which easily could become a financial burden for the state’s annual budget and likewise for it’s taxpayers. Some school districts pay approximately $700,000 on yearly contracts to Sheriffs department for their protection, whereas, school districts in Fontana, Hesperia, Apple Valley have Police departments on their own school campus, unfortunately, the downfall to this concept is lack of availability, for example, the San Bernardino City Unified School District had their own On-Campus Police Department since 1973 with only 26 Police Officers, who been serving as “problem solvers”, youth advocates, counselors and school community liaisons for over 49,000 students, which is way out of balanced.
I may not be familiar with the in’s & out’s of all the “Red Tape” involved with the Federal and State distributions from our annual tax proceeds, even though much of it supposedly contributed to the nation’s public roadways, infrastructures, state-programs and education, I cannot see why we can’t collect a small percentage of these taxes already obtained from major consumer-demand money-making markets, for example-the alcohol and tobacco industry, DMV Fees, Transportation (Gas, oil, tires), Gambling (lottery, on-line gambling) and Marijuana Dispensaries, which should totaled in billions of dollars and experiment using a five-year program with a local school to study its outcome and find out the expenses to maintain, by commencing a checklist, for example, hire ample security or Police personnel the 1st year,
top-of-the-art surveillance equipment 2nd year, protection devices 3rd year, specialized individuals or unit assigned to monitor “potential hazards” students by checking backgrounds, social media input etc (similar to that of a probation officer), which totals a combination of all-around security measures, but initiated in a timely manner and within the realms of federal and state budget and then conduct a survey if there were less gun-related incidents or cancel the program altogether...but at least it’s a start, our children are worth the effort!
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