Across the United States, classrooms are now open for a new school year, and as one read about the issue, a headline from The Denver Post newspaper caught attention: “As Denver students return to class for new school year, so do the armed police.” The newspaper article’s summary states that “the SROs will be stationed at 13 public school campuses” in the state.
SRO stands for School Resources Officer, the armed guards who must protect students and staff to prevent a deadly shooting at the center. It is a reality that American schools are becoming premises for the police who, in short, bring weapons into their classrooms, as they are present in more than 40,000 schools where three million children learn.
Amid this fear of protecting their own, a survey conducted by Hi Delta Kappa International, a professional organization for educators, surveyed 1,008 adults and 45 percent even supported arming teachers; However, in another RAND Corporation survey, 54 percent of teachers believe that students would feel less safe if they walked into classrooms not only with their books but also with a gun on their hip.
There are many demonstrative studies that show that there is no greater security in schools where security guards are present, on the contrary. It also turns out that the police presence is not necessarily pleasant for students; rather, they feel like they are being watched, especially those from ethnic minorities. The National Association of School Psychologists notes that fear of outcomes, like violence itself, can interfere with the learning process.
In addition, there is data that SROs often serve to criminalize school misconduct, particularly among Black or Latino students, and result in arrests and detentions as well as the use of violence against the students involved in the issue in question, which is even a a simple fight can be between boys…
A HuffPost investigation found that school police officers used Tasers or stun guns on students at least 120 times between September 2011 and September 2018.
Those who testify to the lack of security, even with an SRO at the school, recall that at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, an officer was on duty during the shooting and the Broward County Sheriff admitted that he was Agent stayed outside. in a defensive position” without acting in defense of the students and their teachers. A 19-year-old young man, already sentenced to life imprisonment, claimed 17 lives. The security guard, who was also convicted of negligence in his role and duty, was acquitted.
No sure answer to the tragedy
The recent decision by the Denver City Board of Education to mandate the presence of police officers represents a reversal of the policy adopted three years ago when those guards were fired. They were responding, they argued, to requests from parents and other community leaders concerned after the incident five months ago at East High School.
The police uniform must make a difference in the 2023-2024 academic year in Denver, the capital of the state of Colorado, which emerged in the Wild West era of gunmen who could be sheriffs or bandits, ranchers, farmers or gamblers and bounty hunters alike . or refugees, all living in violence, within or outside the law, seemingly sources of an indelible stain on American culture.
There will be a lot of shootings in 2023, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that most of them have occurred in some of the states that have inherited this imprint made famous by Hollywood films and even widely praised, in which Indians and Mexicans stayed, “the bad guys” versus “the good” white cowboys.
During these violent days, according to statistics, most shootings occurred in Texas, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, California, Missouri and Colorado. According to a 2022 study published by Everytown for Gun Safety, which advocates for gun violence prevention, states that have fewer restrictions on the ownership of lethal devices have higher rates of firearm deaths, including homicides, suicides and accidental deaths.
In the first three months of 2023 alone, 33 school shootings were recorded in the United States, 13 of which occurred in elementary school settings intended for children under 12 years old. The record number is broken in 2022, when 51 school shootings were recorded, according to Education Week.
The Gun Violence Archive reports 478 mass shootings, nearly two per day, so far in 2023 through August 31, the 243rd day of this year, and counts among the fatalities 204 children under 12 and 992 between 12 and 17. There are also 476 injured people in the first group and 2,788 young people. These rates exceed those of previous years.
Experts believe there are several key factors leading to this tendency toward mass murder in the United States. First, they cite the ease with which a gun can be legally accessed and obtained and the government’s inability to adequately verify criminal or mental records of purchasers. The United States is a home-made arsenal, where the proportion of firearms in the hands of civilians is 120.5 per hundred inhabitants.
Many of the youth and adolescents who commit bloody acts in schools and on campuses are seeking revenge for being victims of school bullying or are seeking recognition, fame, and notoriety for their actions in a society that speaks of “winners.” » and “losers” as opposing elements in a culture characterized by consumerism and individualism.
The New York Times recently published a report titled “A Bus Crosses the US Uniting Families of Shooting Victims,” which stated: “As mass shootings continue to occur at schools, shopping malls and entertainment venues across America, there is incomprehensible sadness growing number of people brought together.” League of Families. “In late-night phone calls and in-person meetings, they shared advice and tears with other parents about past shootings, knowing that no one else can understand what it means to lose a child in such a violent and public way.”
The driver of this bus is Manuel Oliver, who lost his son at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and he intends to continue this vehicle of hope wherever pain takes its toll on parents, grandparents, siblings, Family members and other friends claimed lives cut short by bullets.
Read this carefully: In March, Manuel Oliver was arrested after he interrupted a hearing of a House committee called by Republicans to support the Second Amendment, which states: “The right of the people to… to keep and carry.” “Weapons do not hurt” and that is what guarantees a “Free State”.
The Olivers and many others in the United States are not seeking police officers in their children’s schools, but rather a gun-free society that promotes greater safety without violence. But almost half of the population is also shaken by fears and worries and believes the presence of the police is necessary.
We quote Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, who has been determined to pass gun control legislation since the horrific shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012: “This is the only country in the world where men who face reality break, exorcise their demons” through mass killings (…) We are not the only place in the world with mental illness. We’re not the only place in the world where people are paranoid. But only in the United States do we be so lax about access to weapons of mass destruction, and only in the United States do we fetishize violence so much that we end up with mass shootings.”
In fact, the United States is a nation of fears, “trained” to confront its problems and those of the world with weapons and violence. A tragedy that repeats itself and even increases…