Arizona Universities to Arm Police with Assault Rifles

[Winnow]

The next school shooting is going to be madness as the rent-a-cops open fire on everyone.

State universities to arm police with assault rifles

The Arizona Republic
Mar. 5, 2008 12:00 AM

Police departments at Arizona's three universities plan to arm their officers with military-style assault rifles within the next year, officials said Tuesday.

The new rifles would give campus police officers long-range shooting capabilities, allowing them to hit targets at the end of long hallways or atop tall buildings, officials said.

Arizona State University will be the first of the three schools to use the weapons. Officers there will be trained to use the rifles in the next few months, said ASU police spokesman Cmdr. Jim Hardina.

Officers will undergo 40 hours of training before using the weapons.

"We don't want to just throw rifles out there," Hardina said.

Eight officers at the University of Arizona will get similar training before a rifle program launches there in four to five months, officials said. Northern Arizona University officials said a rifle program was in the works, although a specific start date was not immediately available.

ASU has bought four of the new rifles at $700 each, and is looking to find money to purchase four more. One challenge the department is facing: finding ammunition for the rifles. Increased military operations mean that the police department and the armed forces were competing for the same ammo, Hardina said.

Assault rifles are useful in "active shooter" situations in which there may not be time to wait for a SWAT team to arrive on campus, officials said.

They added that the plan has been in the works for a couple of years and is not related to recent shootings on college campuses, including last year's massacre of 32 students at Virginia Tech by a student with a history of mental illness.

Pistols that campus officers currently use aren't ideal for long shots, said Sgt. Eugene Mejia, UA Police Department spokesman.

"Beyond 50 feet, you lose a lot of accuracy," Mejia said. "You can take a longer, more accurate shot (with the rifles)."

ASU officers will store the new guns in their patrol cars while on duty, taking them out only when a situation warrants their use, Hardina said.

Jan Kelly, an ASU faculty member, said she understands why officers have a need for weapons with increased capabilities. She said she feels comfortable with campus officers' access to the rifles.

"I don't think the police are going to target students," Kelly said. "If they (the guns) aren't visible, most won't really know about them.

"Hopefully we'll never know about them."

[Noysyrump]

As opposed to the lawfulness that school shootings follow at present?

First response is, good. Second response is, let the students carry their own fire-arms too.

Next school shooting would then have a body count of.... one.

[Spang]

That's all our universities need; a bunch of drunk kids with guns!

[*~*stragi*~*]

40 hours of training woop

[Winnow]

40 hours of training woop

That probably consists of playing a week of "America's Army" video game.

[Boogahz]

I guess it all depends on who actually employs the officers. Are they REALLY rent-a-cops, or are they members of the city's police force?

[Winnow]

I guess it all depends on who actually employs the officers. Are they REALLY rent-a-cops, or are they members of the city's police force?

http://www.asu.edu/police/police/recruit.htm


Here's the job Opportunities Page for the ASU Police:

Minimum Requirements of the ASU Police Officer

To be considered for a sworn position with the department, you must be at least 21 years of age and have a high school diploma or GED. In addition, you must meet the criteria set forth by the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board. All employment is contingent upon successful completion of extensive background, polygraph, psychological, medical, and drug screening evaluations. Starting salary range is $40,000 for police officer recruits and up to $43,000 for lateral entry.

Minimum Requirements of the ASU Police Aide

To be considered for a non-sworn police aide position with the department, you must have a high school diploma or GED and six months' customer service experience; or any equivalent combination of experience and/or education from which comparable knowledge, skills and abilities have been achieved. Possession of a current Arizona Class D driver's license is required upon employment. All employment is contingent upon successful completion of extensive background, polygraph, psychological, medical and drug screening evaluations. Starting salary is $30,000.

Opportunities

The diverse and dynamically charged environment of the Arizona State University campus provides the professional law enforcement officer with unique challenges and opportunities. In addition to Patrol officers, specialty assignments may include:

* Investigations
* Crime Prevention
* Motorcycle Patrol
* Narcotics Task Force
* Community-Based Policing
* Bike Officers
* FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force

ASU Daily Police Logs:

http://www.asu.edu/police/logs/index.html

[*~*stragi*~*]

i'm wrong

[Mak]

Based on the parts I've bolded below, I'd say that these aren't minimum wage "rent-a-cops" by any stretch of reasonable consideration. IIRC, most college police forces have the same requirements that city/county police forces have, i.e. Police Academy certification (585 hours in Arizona), background checks, etc. Major universities most certainly would. While every single drunken college student I've ever known thinks they aren't "real" cops, they have as much training AND authority as any other cop. (That's not to say that colleges don't hire regular security guards to watch buildings or patrol sporting events, but they're not the ones given guns.)

I guess it all depends on who actually employs the officers. Are they REALLY rent-a-cops, or are they members of the city's police force?

Minimum Requirements of the ASU Police Officer

To be considered for a sworn position with the department, you must be at least 21 years of age and have a high school diploma or GED. In addition, you must meet the criteria set forth by the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board. All employment is contingent upon successful completion of extensive background, polygraph, psychological, medical, and drug screening evaluations. Starting salary range is $40,000 for police officer recruits and up to $43,000 for lateral entry.