Southers Speaks on Florida ‘Safe-School Officer’ Implementation

SCI Director Dr. Erroll Southers spoke with the Washington Post’s Kayla Epstein about the Florida law requiring schools in the state to employ a “safe-school officer” to guard against active shooters. A school in Manatee County, Florida, hired and armed two combat veterans, which has sparked debate over how best to secure schools. Dr. Southers, who is also a board member for the Secure Schools Alliance, told the Post:

“I have to be honest, I have never conducted a [school] assessment where this level of deter and defend was necessary…I teach in Israel, I teach in France, places where terrorism is an issue. I’ve not seen this anywhere, not in an academic and an educational environment.”

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Safe Communities Institute

The Safe Communities Institute (SCI) at the USC Price School of Public Policy continues a more than 60-year tradition of research, interdisciplinary education, and collaboration to advance sustainable “whole-of-community” public safety strategies, policies, and programs. SCI takes a holistic approach to encouraging and informing public safety efforts through collaboration between all public safety disciplines and the communities they serve.

Officer Spotlight - Hatcher Parnell is Director of the Office of Executive Protection Services at the University of Southern California (USC)! Read more.

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