HUTCHINSON
He forms panel, puts $300,000 into gun training for officers
pledges to pay to train armed school officers, sets up safety study panel.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson pledged to invest in schoolhouse security Thursday by putting $300,000 toward training armed school resource officers and developing safety plans.
In addition to sending discretionary funding to the Criminal Justice Institute at the University of Arkansas System, Hutchinson impaneled a “blue-ribbon” commission to study school safety and report back to him in July and November.
“It’s an urgent matter because it affects the lives and safety of our children,” Hutchinson said, noting that he believes officials at a Parkland, Fla., high school did not do enough to prevent a shooter from killing 17 people on Feb. 14.
The Criminal Justice Institute will use the funds to give additional training to, and to train more, armed school resource officers, according to a spokesman for the governor’s office.
Hutchinson noted that the state has already increased the number of school resource officers by nearly 100 in the past year, with about 316 statewide working as of Thursday. But those officers patrol only about one third of
schools in the state, Hutchinson said.
Among the 11 announced names to join the governor’s Arkansas School Safety Commission, none represented the National Rifle Association, gun lobby, or gun-control groups.
Hutchinson, who was appointed to head an NRA task force on school safety in the wake of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, said his newest effort is not about gun control.
“This is not a gun-control commission,” Hutchinson said. “This is a school safety commission, and I’ve said repeatedly I want to address things we can agree upon, and that are obvious will make a difference.”
The governor noted that he does not support raising the minimum age to purchase firearms in the U.S. from 18 to 21, though he said private companies that announced that decision this week, such as Walmart and Dick’s Sporting Goods, should be free to make their own policies.
The governor said the commission will research school security throughout the state, addressing response capability as well as counseling and mental-health resources. It’s first report will be due in July, followed by a final report in November.
Cheryl May, director of the University of Arkansas System’s Criminal Justice Institute, will head the commission. Bill Temple, a retired FBI special agent, was named vice chairman. The group also includes employees from the Arkansas Department of Education and school districts, including Clarksville School District Superintendent David Hopkins.
Beginning in 2013 under Hopkins, Clarksville armed some specially designated teachers and staff members with 9mm pistols. Hutchinson said Thursday as many as 13 school districts in the state authorize armed teachers, and he would be open to the possibility of expanding such programs.
Temple, who worked with the FBI between 1977 and 2008, said he didn’t know how law enforcement officials would react to the idea of arming teachers.
Last year, when the Legislature approved a law allowing concealed carry on public college campuses, it did so over the objections of the University of Arkansas Police Department.
“I haven’t really talked to a lot of people in retirement about this” Temple said. “I think from my perspective there’s pros and cons.”