BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — As the school year inches closer, many districts are taking a look at how they can step up their security policies following the Uvalde mass shooting.
Bowling Green Police are helping all schools in the city increase their security measures, by allowing all officers in the city to access all school buildings 24 hours a day. This is something the district asked for going into this school year.
"Obviously with recent events its even more at the front of our minds with what we should be doing and what we could be doing, and so this is just another tool in our belt to allow us to respond," Lt. Adam Skaff with the Bowling Green Police Department said.
Lt. Skaff said officers already had key fobs to enter select buildings and will now be able to use those same key fobs to get into city school buildings should there be an emergency. He said officers in the department do not take this new responsibility lightly. Should there be any type of threat in the school district, the first officer on the scene would immediately enter the building.
"Currently, and [this] has been for the past couple of years, the first officer on scene if there is an active shooter is going to immediately enter that building!" Lt. Skaff said. "This is not something that 15 years ago we would wait for additional officers. Our procedure and process is that the first person that is there is going to immediately enter that building and respond to the shooter or the active threat."
Many other local police departments have similar policies in place for student safety. Perrysburg police officers are also able to enter all school buildings, and Toledo Police school resource officers are able access to all high school buildings.
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