SAFER SCHOOLS
Murphy announces plans for State Police to build presence in New Jersey schools in wake of Florida shooting >>
TRENTON » Police officers may be a more common sight at New Jersey schools following the mass shooting in Parkland, Fla. that left 17 students, teachers and staff members dead.
New Jersey State Police Col. Patrick Callahan announced at Gov. Phil Murphy’s press conference in Trenton that his officers would stop by 107 schools that the agency is responsible for starting on Tuesday.
Callahan said he came up with the idea this weekend after talking to commanders and passing seven or eight schools on his work commute from Warren County to Trenton.
“I was starting to think about the 1,000 troopers that are in unmarked transportation that do the same thing every day,” Callahan said Tuesday. “I want to start with having those troopers ... to start stopping by there in a regular yet random basis in order to put a face on what law enforcement looks like and in order to give parents, teachers, students, the opportunity to interact with us.”
Callahan said it has been a missed opportunity over the years for state police, which is a law enforcement provider for 90 municipalities in the Garden State, since there has been so much focus on community policing.
“That’s where they start to humanize the badge and for those young men and women in our schools to start to see law enforcement as somebody that’s on their side and not somebody that’s against them,” the colonel said. “If you see Jersey troopers in schools, it’s for multiple benefits, certainly school security being one of them.”
Last Wednesday, a lone gunman with a semiautomatic rifle killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.
At Tuesday’s press conference, Murphy revealed that his administration is reviewing current school-shooting protocols, talking with legislators about commonsense gun reforms, working on coalitions with other states and keeping the pressure on members of Congress to pass gun control laws.
“There’s not one magic wand here,” the Democratic governor said. “This is a series of steps that need to be taken to close gaps and to lower probabilities and mitigate against potential.” In the days since the mass shooting, Murphy said one school district in New Jersey closed after an ominous message was found on social media and a middle school was put under lockdown after a student found a bullet on school grounds.
“I think any parent watching should feel that we are doing everything we can,” the governor said. “We’re both learning from what’s happened in these awful tragedies. We’re learning from some false alarms in our own state. But we also are not going to fight the last war. We’re going to look around corners.”
Murphy was joined at the event by New Jersey Department of Homeland Security Director Jared Maples, acting Commissioner of Education Lamont Repollet, acting Commissioner of Children and Families Christine Norbut Beyer, State Sen. President Steve Sweeney, and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin.
Sweeney (D-Gloucester) called the Parkland mass shooting a “complete failure of government.”
“There was plenty of flags on this kid,” Sweeney said. “Everyone knew this kid was trouble but nobody did anything about it.”
New Jersey Department of Homeland Security Director Jared Maples reminded the public if they “see something say something.” “Reporting suspicious behavior could potentially stop the next school shooting or terrorist incident,” Maples said. “Even if you think your observation is not important, it may be a piece of a larger puzzle.”
People can report suspicious activity in New Jersey to local police or to the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security by calling 211 or 866-4-SAFE-NJ or emailing tips@njhomelandsecurity.gov.
Around the country, students and survivors of the shooting are speaking out against gun violence.
Murphy praised the students pushing for gun control measures.
“God love them man because our generation ain’t getting it done at least nationally,” Murphy said. “Kids are showing us the way.”