Public Safety Concerns for Panama City
Public safety is never really an issue for Panama City or even Bay County residence to even think about. There are easily many ways to contact law enforcement and to stay up to date through things like AlertBay to know more about public safety. With what has recently happened due to gun violence in Parkland, Florida at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School there has been growing concern in the area. Seventeen people were killed at the school due to one person coming onto their campus. There was no one to stop the individual and no one to think that they had a motive in mind. Could this happen here? What if it were to happen here? Would there be enough security at Bay County schools? The people of Panama City are asking for more to be done about gun safety and how to keep children safe.
Governor Scott’s Plan on Gun Violence
Governor Scott, on February 28th, states that he will ensure that Florida schools be kept safe. “There is nothing more important than to do all we can to make sure a horrific and evil act like the Parkland shooting never happens again.” Governor Scott posted onto Twitter for his followers to see proceeding the tragic shooting in Parkland. Scott says that his plan to address this will be broken into three sections: gun laws, school safety, and mental health.
To elaborate further, Scott’s first plan would be to keep guns away from dangerous people. Suggesting stronger restrictions on the sale of guns and prohibiting the sale to those under the age of twenty-one years old. His second plan would be to use $450 million in order to keep schools safe. Scott proposed to improve school resource officers in every public school in Florida. There would also be mandatory active shooter training for both faculty and students of public schools. This would take place during the first week of each semester. And the third plan would be to user $50 million on mental health initiatives. Scott wants to expand mental health services throughout Florida. This would help those who might have intrusive thoughts or feelings that would go unnoticed by friends or family. Scott also wants to add in DCF case management to every sheriff’s office.
Guns in Bay County Classrooms
Though this was almost a month ago, there have been talks that teachers should be able to use guns in classrooms. On March 13th, Superintendent of Bay District Schools, Bill Husfelt, announced that he will be keeping guns out of schools. Scott signed a bill during the first meeting at the Bay District School Board allowing trained personnel to carry guns; though they are not full-time teachers. “We don’t want to reach a point where we have to remind people that teachers are our friend.” Says Hiba Rahim, coordinator for Florida’s Council on American-Islamic Relations northwest region.
A survey recently taken to see how people would react to this bill being passed shows a split of 60-40. Husfelt responded to the bill by saying that fewer than 15 of the personnel would be able to carry weapons. “There’s no way 40 percent of our employees would be armed,” Husfelt says.
Funding?
Funding will not be available for the new bill until July 2018. Husfelt says that he has been involved with meeting area mental health advisers and facilities to boost availability. More than $750,000 will be coming to the district in order to help.
Husfelt also brought up the idea to have cellphones banned in Bay District schools in order to stop cyber-bullying. The bad thing is, would this cause more problems than stop them?
Spring Break Concerns
With Spring Break right around the corner, public safety has also been on other’s minds around the Panhandle. On February 28th of 2018, Bay County acquired $775,000 for public safety, all from the Tourist Development Council tax. Three counties in the state of Florida will have authorization to use TDCT money, paid by visitors, for public safety. “All of the funding that we will apply will be towards the TDC’s goal of making sure that the visitors and the citizens of Bay County are safe. So we put that towards the additional personnel that we put into the different zones out on the beach and in the unincorporated areas.” Bay County Sheriff’s Office Captain David Baldwin said. The majority of this money will have use in order to maintain safety on the beach and surrounding areas during Spring Break.
Information and funding in order to keep schools safe will be provided before the 2018-2019 school year. Knowing this, will the board have enough time to plan and prepare for the upcoming school year? It does seem that they have a lot to address in order to keep public schools safe for all. Whether they decide to arm teachers with guns or to ban cellphones in classrooms, we all need to watch the upcoming school year.
http://www.newsherald.com/news/20180313/speakers-to-bay-school-board-keep-guns-out-of-classrooms
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Meagan Stone
Student Author - Spring 2018
Senior at GCSC pursuing a Bachelors in Applied Science in Digital Media. With over 5 years professional experience in graphic arts, I hope to someday bring my skills overseas.
