In the wake of Tuesday’s East High School incident, in which police found two students in possession of a loaded gun, Memphis City Schools and Memphis Police Department representatives gathered this week to underline their efforts to increase safety measures in schools.
MCS Superintendent Kriner Cash said he aimed to “reassure the community that the safety of Memphis schools and the corridors to and from those schools are top priority.”
Already this year, 10 guns have been found in schools; at this time last year, only six had been discovered. MCS plans to increase their already frequent metal detector checks in all schools, as well as keep better watch on school entrances and exits.
Police Director Larry Godwin reinforced Cash’s concern, stating their shared dedication to ensuring school safety. The MPD plans to increase patrols in the areas surrounding schools, while working with Juvenile Court to “interrupt the source of the firearms.”
“We will make those arrests and do the things we have to for those violent individuals who are disrupting the good students of Memphis City Schools,” Godwin said.
The Trust Pays program, which was recently implemented in all schools and asks students to report criminal activity to a faculty member they trust, was used in the situation at East High and a recent episode at Hamilton High. Cash commended the efforts of students and teachers in the past year to lower overall incidents on campuses, but insisted that these recent occurrences involving guns command the commitment of the entire Memphis community to school safety.
