Time to arm school safety agents: Zel
Surging gubernatorial hopeful Lee Zeldin told city parents he supports arming school safety agents and outfitting them with bulletproof vests as statistics showed an uptick in school crimes and weapons confiscations this year.
The Republican congressman from Long Island, who is vying to oust Gov. Hochul, made a surprise appearance and briefly took questions during a Zoom meeting Wednesday night sponsored by the NYC School Safety Coalition.
“It’s somewhat controversial, but I believe there should be trained, armed school-resource officers,” Zeldin said.
He added that having school safety agents equipped with protective vests is a no-brainer: “Absolutely 100%.”
“That shouldn’t require legislation. That should be the way it is. It’s important they all have access to that, for sure,” he said.
Teamsters Local 237, which represents city school safety agents, has called for bulletproof vests for its officers for more than 10 years, 237 President Greg Floyd told The Post. But the union boss raised concerns about any policy that arms agents without proper training.
“Bulletproof vests we would accept,” said Floyd. “But arming 3,000, 4,000 school safety agents who weren’t hired to be armed is a question mark.
“None of them have been trained for firearms, or even hired for that purpose. It changes the job title, it changes the whole function,” he added.
Floyd instead called for more personnel — there are roughly 3,256 agents citywide, from about 5,000 before the pandemic. The new figures come as the NYPD as a whole is on pace to see thousands of cops retire or resign this year — the most since the post-9/11 exodus, The Post has reported.
NYPD Capt. Marlon Larin at the coalition meeting said 3,256 agents spread across 1,400 school buildings “doesn’t translate to very much.”
“That’s why, unfortunately, you’re seeing those low numbers at these mega-campuses, and unfortunately our elementary schools have single agents, which naturally we don’t want to see,” Larin said.
Some parents at the meeting blasted the low number of safety agents at Staten Island’s Tottenville HS, where a 14-year-old innocent bystander was shot in the leg during a fight outside the school with 3,700 students.
Zeldin’s comments came shortly after Larin rattled off an alarming increase in confiscated weapons and crimes on campus.
So far this school year, 1,454 pepper-spray dispensers, knives, tasers and other weapons have been recovered, compared to 790 at this point last year. Five of those weapons were firearms, compared to 21 in total by the end of last school year.
“We’re on pace to break last year’s record,” Larin said.
He also pointed to an increase since July 1 in school burglary and grand larceny.