OPINION:
It was heartbreaking, to say the least, to see the massacre in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 children and two teachers were slaughtered for no good reason. What transpired after that was even more despicable: when Beto O’Rourke interrupted a news briefing to update the public and families of those who lost love ones and blame Republicans for the murders.
To add insult to injury, before any of the facts or evidence came out, President Biden came out with an executive order to reform police, as though police were responsible. I am a second-generation, former law-enforcement officer and I can tell you that Mr. Biden should have waited before making the police his scapegoat.
I have a few solutions to this school-shooting crisis. Each school campus should have a K-9-trained officer with a trained German Shepherd or Doberman Pinscher. If you have ever watched crowd control, you know armed cops are sometimes challenged — but no one in their right mind wants to be bitten by a police dog. When my dad was on the job, he brought home a Shepherd pup that went to K-9 school so I know from experience they are bad to the bone.
As for all those small towns that lack the money for surveillance equipment, why don’t large companies donate equipment on behalf of our children? At the very least, these towns can get dummy cameras and fake surveillance signs can be put up by janitors as deterrents. If they can only get one real camera for the time being, it should be strategically placed with the fake ones.
In addition, every law-enforcement agency in the country should have at the ready blueprints of all school buildings under their jurisdiction. This way cops don’t go onto a campus blind. And for my money, I would set up an emergency phone system that goes directly to a department with the press of a button.
GREGORY J. TOPLIFF
Warrenville, South Carolina
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