# P1 Exclusive: Arming campus cops is elementary



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*P1 Exclusive: Arming campus cops is elementary*



*Editor's Corner*
with Doug Wyllie

_Princeton University says 'no' to armed officers... _
_What do *you* think? Sound off below._

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has decreed that campus police at Princeton University don't need guns. OSHA said in a June ruling that despite Princeton's policy of not allowing its campus police officers to carry firearms in the conduct of their duty, the university has complied with OHSA regulations to protect its law enforcement employees against occupational hazards.











A Princeton University student is silhouetted as he looks over the Faculty Room in Nassau Hall on the campus of Princeton University during the school's 250th Anniversary celebration in 1996. The Faculty Room was once home to the Continental Congress for four months in 1783. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Jim Lanzi, the Crime Prevention Coordinator for the Department of Public Safety at Princeton, filed an anonymous complaint (his identity was later revealed) against the school with OSHA in which he stated - rightly so in our view - that by not allowing campus police the ability to carry guns, the university has created a workplace safety hazard. But OHSA sided with the University's contention that "Princeton Township and Borough police will be there when needed and on-campus public safety officers still do not need guns" according to a report in the Times of Trenton. 
The OSHA ruling is just the latest setback in a series of efforts by Lanzi, who as the FOP president represents two dozen officers whose job it is to patrol the picturesque private campus that lies about halfway between New York and Philadelphia. Lanzi had written letters to the administration, from the university president on down to managers and cabinet-level offices, but the president never replied and he'd received minimal response from anyone else he had petitioned on the matter. 
Lanzi tells PoliceOne in an exclusive interview that the issue gained steam after he responded to an inconsistency in the school newspaper, the Princetonian, on how the mass notification system the university had installed would work in active shooter incidents. 
"The local student newspaper made is sound like it's the end-all and is going to save people in the active shooter situations," Lanzi says. "I didn't criticize the university - I said that what the university needs to do now is to take it one more step and arm their police officers so that we can engage the active shooter." 
The Northern Illinois shooting and Virginia Tech tragedy before it demonstrated that the law enforcement community who defend against madmen and malcontents must rapidly engage the subject in order to save lives. 
"Time - you've got to shorten that time up that the person can have a gun and start shooting and a mass notification system isn't going to do that. The mass notification system certainly mitigates the issues afterwards but it's not going to stop the shooting," Lanzi says.

Full Article: http://www.policeone.com/police-pro...1-Exclusive-Arming-campus-cops-is-elementary/


----------



## mpd61 (Aug 7, 2002)

Is anyone surprised?

OSHA had to rule in favor of the Pee-Yew. Can you imagine the significance to higher-ed institutions if a federal regulatory agency said it was generally unsafe for a class of police to be unarmed?


----------



## BB-59 (Oct 19, 2005)

And of course if there is a shooting there with great loss of life, OSHA and the University will be protected from civil redress.

The sad, the truely sad thing is none of these people or groups of people will be the ones dircetly hurt. Yes they will stand at the podium with tears in there eyes blaming the 2nd amendment, the NRA, toy manufactures, the war in Iraq, but they themselves are blameless.

Mayby if the campus police had disassembled guns, with ammunition buried under large stone, maby then they would be allowed to carry a weapon.


----------



## Irish Wampanoag (Apr 6, 2003)

OSHA=

Our Service Has no Authority

OSHA is only able to pursue a criminal penalty when a willful violation of an OSHA standard results in the death of a worker. The maximum penalty is a misdemeanor with a maximum of 6-months in jail.


----------



## Guest (Jul 19, 2008)

If I were a psycho who wanted to go on a shooting rampage at a college campus, Princeton would have just jumped to the top of my list.


----------



## Irish Wampanoag (Apr 6, 2003)

Delta784 said:


> If I were a psycho who wanted to go on a shooting rampage at a college campus, Princeton would have just jumped to the top of my list.


As well as if I were a terrorist Princeton, Yale, and Harvard would be tops on my list too. Not that an armed PD could prevent a terrorist attack, however, I would think twice about planning one on a target that has armed police. I am surprise Princeton is not armed. Some of the most prestigious family and political offspring going to said college making them a prime target.

PS before VTech I thought Assachusetts was the only state that did not arm all their College PDs. I was sadly mistaken!!! You would think after 13 yrs I would know this!


----------



## BB-59 (Oct 19, 2005)

Ha! Your all wrong!

Campus rules clearly state that weapons are not allowed, so how could a firearm be used. And after all I am sure the campus police have pepper spray.

You see, these campus are "gun free zones", type this in on YouTube and see how well this theory works in practice.

I am sold on this and have ordered my "gun free zone" kit.

All honesty and BS aside, I firmly beleive Lt. Colonel David Grossman should be required reading on this subject to all collage and university administrators.


----------



## Irish Wampanoag (Apr 6, 2003)

My college purchase the "Gun Free Zone Devise" by Ronco. Its connected to the college wide paging system. Once activated it sends a text message to college students informing them about a critical incident. This is when the GFZ devise kicks in. Located with a beacon on the tallest college building which it sends out a Vulcan Microwave Electrical Impulse Signal which disables an active shooter's firearm rendering it useless while leaving law enforcements' equipment and firearms unaffected. Money well spent by the liberal administration make us a kinder, stronger, gentler and more sympathetic police department.:bat:


----------



## CPT Chaos (Mar 1, 2006)

All honesty and BS aside, I firmly beleive Lt. Colonel David Grossman should be required reading on this subject to all collage and university administrators.[/quote]

He spoke to my OCS class at Fort Lewis. What a great speaker and a gentlemen! I went out and bought "On Killing" the next day at the PX.


----------

