Police issued X-26 Taser

An interesting  and, for the moment, civil debate  has ensued between North Carolina’s Guilford County law enforcement and school officials.

On one hand, we have the district. Tasked with  providing a nurturing and safe learning environment, it has contracted with various local law enforcement agencies to help them in this endeavor, placing them in just about every middle and high school campus. 

And for it’s part, the local police departments are more than willing to help schools remain the secure and sound places of learning they should be. Where the two entities are disagreeing, however, is the method.

When the Guilford County Sherrif’s Office began arming its deputies with Tasers in 2007, it also went to the school resource officers. And this year, two other police departments that the district works with, provided their SRO’s with Tasers, too, heightening a percolating sense of unease that educators and families have felt about having these weapons on school sites.

It certainly didn’t help, when an SRO used a Taser on a female high school student earlier this year, nor that days later another SRO suffered injuries after breaking up a student fight because, according the sherrif’s office, the deputy wanted to avoid further controversy and abstained from using the device.  

School board member Sandra Alexander told the News & Record, the majority of the board and the public don’t like the idea of Tasers in schools, with the board extending an invitation to local law enforcement officials to speak about the matter at an upcoming board meeting.  

The police chiefs say they are happy to sit down and talk with the county board about the issue, though equipping only some officers with a weapon that all officers have been trained to use properly and with discretion is not a likely outcome.

“The idea that we want to hurt any children is ridiculous,” Guilford County Sherrif BJ Barnes told the News & Record.

Still, Alexander has many concerns.

“Working with children requires special training and I don’t know that they’re getting the training they need in that regard,” she said.  

What’s your thought on this issue? Should Tasers be a tool in a school resource officer’s arsenal? Does each side have a valid point? Read more on this issue from the National School Safety and Security Services organization.

Naomi Dillon, Senior Editor