fyi

From: Kiru R. [mailto:kiru86@hotmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2018 3:12 PM
To: Aderhold, David; amiller@westwindsortwp.com; jbahree@westwindsortwp.com; lgeevers@westwindsortwp.com; ahamilton@westwindsortwp.com; vmanzari@westwindsortwp.com; Cantu, Peter; Lewis, Neil; Bander, David; Nabi, Nuran; Yates, Ed
Subject: Armed Police in WWP Schools

Hello,

I am a resident of West Windsor and recently heard of the resolution to place armed "Resource Officers" in our schools, including our elementary schools. While I understand the fear of a mass shooting, I don't think that the solution is for an officer to carry a weapon around our schools. Looking at the states where shootings have occurred, they've occurred in states with lax gun laws (not a descriptor for NJ, to say the least). Therefore, I don't think that the solution in NJ, especially in this town, is to introduce guns into the schools, making an object that was once largely inaccessible now available, walking down the halls with its owner every day. If we had biometric triggers, that'd be one thing, but we don't yet.

For safety, I would much prefer that guns be kept in a gun safe(s) where only the officer knows the codes/has access to the safe, or the officer stays in the front office and have the unarmed security officers who are already in the schools do the patrolling. The last thing we need is a tussle between student and officer and the student gets the gun or the officer fears for his life and now we have a dead kid, kids, or dead officer. My husband and I both graduated WWPHS South in the mid-2000s - we had security officers at that time who patrolled and that system was working just fine. The situations the officer is most likely to encounter day to day won't require a gun to solve, so why have the gun transported at all times throughout the school?

Finally, if you're going through with this, I suggest limiting employment to State Police only. They have much more extensive training than local cops and will be less biased than a cop who's lived here a long time and knows all the families.

All in all, I am against this plan for many, many reasons beyond the gun issue and honestly this is something that will make me reconsider staying in this town and sending my kids through this system.

~Julia Ryan