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Pitfalls of arming teachers in the classroom discussed by CSUSB criminal justice professorNBC NewsFeb. 22, 2018
President Donald Trump has proposed a solution to end classroom massacres once and for all: Arm some of America's teachers with concealed weapons, and train them to 'immediately fire back if a savage sicko came to a school with bad intentions,' he said Thursday. But gun violence experts, educators, and school safety advocates immediately panned the idea.
Brian Levin, a former officer with the New York Police Department, said in the heat of the moment, it's too easy to misfire. He recalled a time early in his career when he almost shot an unarmed man fleeing a shooting scene.
'Often times when you’re having an adrenaline-filled situation, you’re not sure who the target is,' said Levin, who is now a criminal justice professor at California State University, San Bernardino, and director of its Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism.
Read the complete article at “Trump’s proposal to arm teachers panned by experts as a ‘colossally stupid idea.’”
The article was also picked up by the Spanish-language network, Telemundo, “Expertos critican duramente propuesta de Trump de armar a los maestros.”
Perris child abuse case having an effect in increase of reporting such incidents, CSUSB professor saysThe Press-Enterprise/Southern California News Group/Bay Area News GroupFeb. 22, 2018
Calls to the Riverside County Child Protective Services child abuse hotline surged by more than 50 percent in the month since Perris residents David and Louise Turpin were arrested Jan. 14 on suspicion of torturing their children, CPS officials said.
Calls to myriad hotlines and tip services — terrorism, child abuse and suicide among them — typically increase after a highly publicized event, experts say.
“We have a name for it: reporting effect,” said professor Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino.
“As agencies become more efficient in identifying particular types of crime and the public becomes more aware, there’s often increased reporting,” Levin said.
Levin suspected that guilt may have played a role in the increase in calls to Child Protective Services after the Turpin arrests.
“It certainly wouldn’t surprise me, because a significant part of that story included people who identified warning signs and didn’t act on them,” he said. “That’s why I think this particular case is having a profound effect, the fact that they successfully circumvented authorities.”
Read the complete article at “After Perris torture arrests, calls to Riverside County child abuse hotline soar.”
These news clips and others may be found at “In the Headlines” on the Inside CSUSB website.