Some eastern Idaho schools getting gun safes
POCATELLO, Idaho (AP) — Schools in one eastern Idaho district are being equipped with gun lockers so school resource officers can keep rifles, ammunition and evidence close at hand.
All of the school resource officers in the district are already armed with semi-automatic handguns, but Pocatello Police Chief Scott Marchand said schools have hallways that are 50 to 100 yards long. In the event that a shooter came to the school, a trained officer could do more with a rifle than one limited to a sidearm, he said.
"Having that tool gives us another opportunity to protect students, faculty and staff," Marchand said. "I hope we never use them anywhere."
Marchand told the Idaho State Journal that the idea was adopted more than a year ago, and the gun lockers have already been purchased — it's not a reaction to the Dec. 14 deadly shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut.
The chief acknowledged that some community members would likely be uncomfortable with the idea of putting more firepower inside schools, but he said the safes would be locked at all times except when officers are using them to access the rifles and ammunition or store evidence.
There are other districts in the nation that have gun safes, though Pocatello will be the first in southeastern Idaho.
Marchand spent 22 years as a member of the regional SWAT team before he became the police chief last year. While he believes the accuracy of a rifle in the hands of a trained officer could be a critical element in responding to an attack at the school, Marchand has serious reservations about arming teachers or others who aren't professional police officers.
"I can train anyone to shoot paper targets," he said. "But a real shooting environment is different ... There's a lot more involved than simply shooting."
Pocatello's three high schools and middle schools currently have full-time school resource officers, but officers also visit the other schools in the district. Marchand hopes to have patrol officers visit the schools at least once a week.
"The plan is to be visible," he said.
Sgt. Ralph Daniels, who is in charge of the school resource officers, said the extra patrol presence has been appreciated. Daniels said the gun safes will be a welcome addition. Currently, it would take some time for officers to get a rifle in an emergency because rifles are typically stored in patrol cars, he said.
"This will increase our ability to respond quickly," Daniels said.
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Information from: Idaho State Journal, http://www.journalnet.com
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
I thought most of the guns in Idaho were rolled up in tarps and buried underground
"Uh, wait right here while I open the safe and get my rifle out." What a hare-brained idea. But then, it's Pocatello, so I don't expect much rational thinking.
Rather than watching a handful of terrorists America places the entire population under surveillance.  Instead of managing its mentally ill and providing mental health care America turns the mentally ill out on the streets and installs police at every school ground.Â
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Why is the only solution ever considered for every social issue always adding more police and surveillance in more places and further limiting the rights of citizens? Â
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Are Americans really so ignorant to fail to recognize when the noose is tightening.Â
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Good plan. Except for being visible. The Taliban knows about this; the ones in uniform are the first ones to get their tickets punched.
Pocatello's three high schools and middle schools currently have full-time school resource officers, but officers also visit the other schools in the district. Marchand hopes to have patrol officers visit the schools at least once a week.
"The plan is to be visible," he said.
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This is what it's all about. If some looney (Providing they do have "Some" sense) will think about hitting a "Softer" target instead of the school as they'll never be sure if there's an officer there or not.
Northern rednecks.
 @correct Ah, now they're rednecks for trying to lock their guns up responsibly. Basically, they serve your right to insult them however you wish without your getting your face stomped into a curb or dragged behind a pickup, because America law is enforced with guns.Guys like you are no threat to the 2nd Amendment because you'll have to send your mommy or daddy or somebody in to do the actual confiscating. go burn a flag.
 @Playanekes You seriously need counseling.
Gee Correct, did playanekes hurt your little feelings? Awwwww....
Pro active, niiiiice!
Enhanced capabilities for law enforcement is a positive step. They are trained, capable and an effective deterrent.
Why not have special cans of Mace that shoot a stream 150 feet. Blind the gunman as he's done. That way there will never be any friendly fire casualties.
 @special effects Why not shoot the gunman and over with it?  Do you happen to have any special cans of mace to sell them?
@special effects --- my understanding of mace is, it can be just as harmful to the user as the offender.
Gun safes for the officers? I thought they might have them for the kids, or for them to keep their books and lunches in. What good are gun safes for the officers? Are they gonna ask the armed intruder to wait while they get their equalizers? Idiots! Weapons in the hands of the police need to readily available, not locked up somewhere!
 @jpk It has value. If somebody says "There's somebody in the parking lot with a rifle" they have time to react. Also, modern schools can all lock down. There's one near Edgefield that can instantly lock all the classroom doors. If a kid gets out of control, they literally just put him in the hallway and lock down until he's done with his tantrum.  The windows are Lexan or some equivalent so if he had a gun he probably wouldn't be able to shoot through, and the doors or locked so at that point he wouldn't even be able to leave. I applied for an IT job there but didn't really want to work in the education sector. They showed me the facility but that's all I'm comfortable sharing about it. Pretty impressive.Safes would have to be just part of a larger matrix of contingency planning that should not be revealed to the public.
I've gotta ask the inevitable question: if the school classroom doors are all locked down from another location, what happens to those locked in, in case of a fire or a natural disaster that takes out the electrical power controlling those locks? Who checks on the kids in lock-down? Or are they to be hostages? Sorry, but it is a thought I hope they have considered.Â
@Icarus Lexan will not stop a bullet. As for retrofitting schools, they don't have enough money now to even effectively teach!Â
 @jpkÂ
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That was a plakates fantasy...he has a girlfriend too, you know, but she's Canadian and you haven't seen her. Those security specifications may exist or be employed for some industrial environments and security exchanges like the in the private New York diamond trading houses but 95% of American schools are more than 5 years old and never had the money to implement or retrofit such expensive "solutions".....Lexan Glass...please.
 @jpk I think its their compromise.
"I can train anyone to shoot paper targets," he said. "But a real shooting environment is different ... There's a lot more involved than simply shooting." I'm not wild about guns in schools, but at least this man understands what's involved.
Nice. This is how it should be. Instead of the Washington Anti-Gun marches and the soul-sucking that is using children for an agenda.Â
Chief Marchand sounds like a man with a lot of common sense... I think if I were a parent there with kids in those schools, I would be very happy that he was in charge of making the school premises as safe as possible. Â Â
There is no way to guarantee anyone's absolute safety "no matter what", but there are things we can do to discourage people bent on destruction from attacking the schools, and for minimizing the damage if one of those people slips through the cracks and gets in anyway...
Hopefully, these LEOs will never need to use the weapons in those gun safes in defense of the people in the schools... but personally, I would be VERY glad just to know they were there..!
 @margay1 Its also nice that they will be locked up, so it doesn't look like a prison.
Tell parents to lock their guns up, problem solved. Â Where do you think these kids get their guns.
 @RandyH Hello Randy, I don't think it should stop there, but rather begin. President Obama would serve the citizens of this country well if he used his office to advocate for all firearm owners to properly secure their firearms. Imagine if he advocated for that in his press conference on gun control, he would have my support.
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If society wants substantive change, it will take many steps. Securing firearms is one of those steps.
 @Torino_v2  @RandyH Recognizing and promoting programs like Eddie Eagle instead of ostracizing or ignoring them would help too.You and I know this is not about firearm education, but control and exclusion of rights to all except "certain government officials."
@Torino_v2 @RandyH ---- for your consideration: a stimulus package for gun owners that would include gun locks and safes. Why not? Obummer wants us safe. Put our money where his mouth is.