Democratizing School Safety

Abstract

Gun violence in America has had tragic impact on schools, school children, and students’ parents. Gun control legislation, updated security systems, and the hiring of school security personnel are high on the lists of many concerned people. However, at the same time, interest in more self-help or democratizing efforts has been shown. The latter has included arming school officials and teachers as well as seeking volunteers in some jurisdictions to act as school resource officers. Specific strategies to protect schools utilizing the services of qualified citizens are considered. In particular, where sufficient paid workers are unavailable, the author proposes that school safety should be achieved using a “risk-based security” strategy in conjunction with volunteer police resources drawn from school neighborhoods and local colleges.