Enfield bringing back armed guards to its schools

ENFIELD, CT (WFSB) - School shootings have changed a lot of things, especially school security.

Many Connecticut schools have armed guards. Enfield is now bringing them back.

Safety is priority for every school, and Enfield is once again deciding on how to protect their students.

“It’s a sad day we have to have this conversation,” said Enfield Mayor Ken Nelson.

Nelson said Sandy Hook and thousands of school shootings have changed everything.

Enfield had armed security, Nelson said Enfield was the first to have them. But the board of education, faced with budget cuts, got rid of armed guards almost 10 years ago.

Now they’re bringing them back.

“The town of Enfield with the support, bi-partisan support, has agreed to assume the cost and re-implement the armed guard program,” Nelson said.

Twenty-eight armed guards will be hired by the town, and they will be part-time town employees. They must be post certified, which means they will either be retired or current police officers.

“I would say it’s important, the cost is there but at the same time it’s kids. There is money that could be spent on things that could be redirected to that,” said Nick Bernard of Enfield.

“I am not really sure how I feel. I work in the school system and we do have a security guard in our school system and I feel very safe the way things currently are. Though I feel with everything going on in the world I can see why people think it’s something we should check into,” said Judy Norris of Enfield.

The cost could be close to $1 million.

The cost of hiring 28 armed security is expensive. The Enfield’s mayor said their budget is already $10 million in the hole.

Nelson said they will find a way to pay for this because he said protecting students has to be a top priority.

See below for which Connecticut schools have armed school resource officers:

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