Amherst NY school district adds armed security officers
Amherst NY April 11, 2023 With a recent mass shooting at a private school in Nashville and a swarm of school threat hoax calls known as swatting to generate a police response, one local school district has decided to make some changes in response.
While school resource officers in area schools have traditionally been in just high schools, we told you last fall that the Iroquois and Tonawanda City School Districts brought in specific SROs at all schools including at the elementary level.
And with the recent swatting incidents in schools – hoaxes believed to be possibly sourced from overseas – the Amherst Central School District stated in an email to parents that it hopes to counter such bogus threats with the removal of its phone numbers and email addresses from its website.
That email also noted, that perhaps more importantly, retired police officers with the Vista Security group will be stationed, along with the existing SRO officer at Amherst High School, at the other three schools. That includes Amherst Middle School on Kings Highway, and then also at Smallwood Elementary, and Windermere Elementary. They will be there through the end of the school year in June.
The school security staffers will be armed with special training according to Vista Security Group Manager and former Buffalo Police Captain Jeff Rinaldo.
“We have definitely in the last five years seen a complete uptick in the number of schools and school districts looking for additional security officers to supplement their SRO resources that they receive from their municipalities.”
Rinaldo pointed out, “Schools are a very unique environment. And if you are going to take the step of putting a person with a firearm into a school you want to ensure that that person has received years and years and years of training with that firearm.”
Rinaldo says they also try to keep specific security staffers assigned to a school.
“Much like an SRO program where you have a dedicated officer – a dedicated police officer to one school. The students become familiar with that officer and it breaks down that – for lack of a better term – the scariness of having a police officer in a school. The kids become comfortable. The kids become reliant upon that officer’s presence.”
“The officers become engaged with the kids and they’re not just the guy with the gun standing at the door. So when you’re able to build those types of relationships and that trust – when incidents like this happen – for instance swatting calls and things that require a rapid police response to the building – it allows those SROs and those security officers to be a point of contact for the kids afterward. So if they were scared or upset by something they saw – those security officers or SROs can help explain something like that happens.”
Rinaldo says his agency is getting more calls to handle security reviews for districts to recommend safety improvements and security access in school buildings.
There has been no response so far from the district but we did connect with a school PTA leader. That person said they feel it’s a good idea and support the use of district funds and tax dollars for bringing in these security officers at all the schools.
