Armed guards now patrol Emporia schools

EMPORIA, Kan. — School security guards in Emporia, Kan., now walk the hallways armed with a gun. The new policy went into effect Feb. 1. The school district had considered the change before the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, but Associate Superintendent Andy Koenigs admits the Connecticut tragedy fast-tracked the change in policy.

"I’m sure a lot of other schools are starting to look at their crisis plans," he said. Willie Turner is a retired police officer who came out of retirement to patrol Emporia Middle School.

"I would hope my weapon would stop anything as far an active type shooter,” Turner said. Alaska Turner (no relation to the security guard) has four children including one at Emporia Middle School. She believes armed security guards make sense.
"There’s lot of guns in our community, so we need our kids to be safe, and I think that probably it’s the best thing that our kids are protected by someone who is armed," she said.

Koenigs says the school district was convinced to let its security guards carry a weapon after attending a security presentation by Homeland Security officials. Koenigs say law enforcement experts warned the district that most school shootings are over, long before police arrive. Koenigs says having an armed guard on campus allows help to arrive in seconds not minutes if a gunman comes to the school.

“We think reducing those possibilities of having an incident would be reduced by having an armed security guard," he said.
In Emporia, the district mandates that all school security guards have law enforcement training and experience.

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