BACK TO SCHOOL: Christie vetoes bill creating new police class for N.J. schools

Christie education schools njeaBy The Staff | The Save Jersey Blog

TRENTON, N.J. — In recent years, threats of terrorism and school shootings have prompted some New Jersey schools to introduced armed police officers.

Governor Chris Christie is expressing openness to a legislative plan to do just that on a broader scale… but not without some changes.

On Tuesday, as children across the Garden State headed back to school, the Governor issued a conditional veto of S-86/A-3629, a bill whcih “establishes Class Three special law enforcement officers to provide security in public and nonpublic schools and county colleges.”

Christie believes the plan is an affordable alternative to expanding the role of the existing police force, but the Governor also thinks additional training is required to improve safety and effectiveness. He shared his concerns in the conditional veto message:

While I fully support the purpose of this bill, it unfortunately does not require SLEO III officers to complete the school resource officer program. School resource officers receive specialized training covering security issues that routinely arise in the school setting. I believe it is essential for SLEO III officers to receive this training to help guide their interactions with juveniles in a school setting.”

The legislature must now act on Christie changes or allow the bill to die.

His assent to the proposal’s basic premise is in of itself an evolution for the Republican governor.

“Listen, I don’t necessarily think having an armed guard outside every classroom is conducive to a positive learning environment,” Christie argued back in 2012. “But let me just say in general I don’t think that the solution to safety in schools is putting [in] armed guard – because for it to be really effective in my view, from a law enforcement perspective, you’d have to have an armed guard outside every classroom.”

You can read the Governor’s conditional veto message here.

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