Gov. Charlie Baker says his administration is taking proactive steps to make sure faculties are secure from gun violence within the wake of current faculty massacres.
“It’s obviously no secret that the last two years have been enormously difficult for children and parents and teachers and school staff,” Baker advised reporters on the State House Thursday. “Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were already significant mental and behavioral health challenges for many of our kids who are in need of additional support and services.”
“Now we know those challenges have only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis and a series of very publicized public tragedies that have taken place around the country,” he stated.
Baker stated that although Massachusetts has largely been spared from an increase at school gun violence in any other case seen nationally, there may be extra the state may very well be doing to maintain kids in faculties secure from tragedies like these seen in Texas, and that his administration will reply with a supplemental funds request to spend an extra $40 million on faculty security initiatives and coaching.
The administration is proposing matching grant funds for faculties trying to put money into bodily safety infrastructure or communications gear, and funding for faculties to pilot nameless “tip line” applications for reporting potential threats.
That $40 million would additionally pay for the institution of a statewide “say something” public consciousness marketing campaign and the creation of a “comprehensive school safety website.”
Baker stated the proposal comes “in the aftermath of Uvalde.”
“It took us a while to put together a plan on that,” he stated. “I do think this is something the Legislature will be interested in and we will work very quickly to get these resources out the door.”
Baker was requested if the state had made any adjustments to the way in which police reply to lively shooter eventualities since Uvalde.
The governor deferred to Jeff Farnsworth, a former police chief and the senior coverage advisor to the secretary of public security, who stated that officers in Massachusetts have been skilled for greater than a decade to right away have interaction lively shooters.
“Our training begins at the entry level, when police officers first come into the academy…our officers from day one are trained in that quick response, that the days of waiting for specialized units to show up are long gone in the Commonwealth. We train on day one as a police officer on how to quickly enter and address a threat, to stop the threat, and then we build from that,” he stated.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”