The city should use roving patrols of armed air-marshal-like agents to keep schools safe in the wake of the Connecticut massacre, parents say.
A proposal to hire 300 to 500 retired police officers — who already have permits to carry concealed weapons — is being introduced for a vote at next month’s Staten Island school-board meeting.
It’s the first such measure, although only advisory in nature, among the city’s 32 education councils.
Keeping the armed guards undercover would keep schools safe without turning them into police states, supporters say.
“It wouldn’t necessarily be that alarming to the students, because now it would be an armed guard they don’t really know has a firearm,” said Mike Reilly, a retired NYPD cop who sits on the Staten Island education council. “That’s the key behind the program.”
The resolution stresses that the gun-toting “special patrolmen” wouldn’t be involved in routine school disciplinary matters.
It also seeks the gradual installation of buzzer- entry systems with video surveillance and panic buttons at every public school.
“It’s not possible to be 100 percent safe, but our schools could be safer,” said council president Sam Pirozzolo. “All we’re looking to do is add a layer [of protection] that might slow somebody down a bit.”