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WAWS CHANNEL 30 - FLORIDA
Tasers coming back to Duval County Schools
Last Update: 8/6/2006 7:24:16 PM
Posted By: Andrea Kendrick
JACKSONVILLE, Fla.--Tasers are coming back to Duval County schools after they were removed in 2005.
Starting Monday, school resource officers will have tasers strapped to their belts. It's a controversial move by Sheriff John
Rutherford, to bring the weapons back after having pulled them from schools in February 2005.
The sheriff says the reason for tasers isn't because of the students.
"It's tasers and adults coming on school property to violate all sorts of laws that we need tasers for."
But, parents are more concerned about the weapons being used on their kids.
"In Florida, you aren't allowed to beat your kid, but they can be tased in schools," said a parent.
The sheriff says he's heard all of the concerns before, and those concerns are what prompted him to remove the tasers from the
school over a year ago. He says they are important for school resource officers to have in an emergency. He says the only way a
student would be shot with a taser is if they were eligible to be shot with a gun.
The sheriff said, "the only way a child who is a student would get tased is if they are also eligible to be shot with a glock. The
question for parents is do you want us to shoot with the taser or a glock?"
He says the answer is easy.
School resource officers have gone through training to use the tasers, and Sheriff Rutherford feels the schools will be a lot safer
with them.