Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

CCSD has no policy on armed teachers, relies on own police force for safety

Stabbing at Chaparral

Steve Marcus

Capt. Ken Young of the Clark County School District Police Department stands outside Chaparral High School Oct. 10, 2017.

President Donald Trump is among the voices calling for armed teachers to protect students in the wake of last week’s Florida school shooting that killed 17.

Since the shooting in Broward County, Florida, Trump has said armed teachers should get bonuses, and columnist and frequent conspiracy theorist Wayne Allyn Root has floated protecting schools with armed drones like the ones controlled out of Nellis Air Force Base, among others. Students who survived the school shooting, meanwhile, are calling for gun control.

In Las Vegas, where a shooter killed 58 people on the Strip in October, the Clark County School District has armed officers in every high school in the area.

“CCSD does not currently have a policy that addresses the topic of teachers and other campus employees carrying guns on campus,” according to a statement from the district.

A district police department provides daily services to campuses, and school staff undergo annual training on how to keep themselves and students safe in threatening situations.

“The consistent presence of our armed school police officers is a crime deterrent,” according to the district, “and is an additional avenue and resource to students who often provide officers with information that stops illegal behavior from occurring.”