Group pushes for more guns on Olympia college campus
Jan 24, 2013, 6:05 AM | Updated: 9:59 am
The Evergreen Campus Police Department employs eight police officers. All of them are fully commissioned by the State of Washington. They do not, however, have the same high-powered weapons and tactical gear you would find on other Washington college campuses. (Image Courtesy Evergreen State College Police)
(Image Courtesy Evergreen State College Police)
A group of Washington college students is pushing for more high-powered guns on campus. They want to get them into the hands of campus cops.
The officers at Evergreen State College get the same training and have the same authority as any other police agency in our state. But, a student group says they are missing one important asset: a cache of high-powered rifles and tactical gear.
The Police Awareness and Student Safety group (PASS) says the Olympia school is the only four year state college or university without the ability to respond to an active shooter on campus.
If a suicidal gunman showed up on the 1,000 acre campus, PASS says it would be 20 minutes before a police agency could arrive with the needed equipment to take the guy down. Enough time, they say, for 80 people to be shot and 60 of them killed.
The student group is circulating a petition asking the legislature to give the campus police agency the training, staff and weapons they would need to deal with an active shooter themselves. PASS says it is largely a question of funding.
