Notice that after a school shooting the police want a budget increase and people ask how it could have been prevented.
Via Watchdog
Hiring retired police officers to keep the peace at schools seems like a no brainer, but one police union is pushing back.
Since the Dec. 14, 2010, school shooting in Newtown, Conn., lawmakers and school authorities across the country have been desperate to find ways to protect children from school violence.
But with school budgets already stretched thin, employing full-time police officers isn’t an option for many districts.
So last April, Miami-Dade School Board member Raquel Regalado proposed hiring retired police officers to protect area schools. It was a practical solution that would save taxpayers a bundle when compared to hiring active-duty officers.
Miami’s police unions responded swiftly, saying they “vehemently oppose the idea of placement of retired Miami police officers in Miami Dade schools.”
The Miami Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 20 and the Miami Dade Public Schools Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 133 say the move is “an exploitation of our children’s safety for the sake of political aspirations and cronyism.”
While the union response was harsh, Regalado said the measure has the support of their police.
“The union became concerned, but our (Miami-Dade Schools Police) police department realized that this is about student safety, and that our district does not have funds to allocate police officers,” she said.
Regalado’s proposal is now up for final approval, but its future is uncertain.
Two previous statewide bills that would allow “designees” to carry concealed weapons on campuses have fizzled in the Legislature.
HT BPR