Kern County has about 275 schools, and there are about 619 Kern County Sheriff's deputies and 343 Bakersfield police officers. So placing an armed officer at every local school would take officers from other jobs.
"This isn't the answer; this is a very complex issue that requires a very complex answer," says Kern County Sheriff, Donny Youngblood.
Youngblood says there are only three deputies serving as school resource officers for three school districts. Those are Greenfield, Beardsley and Standard. The Kern High School District has its own police department where officers patrol each of its school. But most Kern elementary and middle schools don’t have any assigned officer.
"If society decides that we need a police officer in every school, we certainly could do that if the money was there,” he says. “But it's not going to necessarily fix the problem, it's only going to fix the symptom, mental illness is the problem.”
It's been a week since 28 people lost their lives in the Newtown, Connecticut shooting while the president is pushing for more gun control, the National Rifle Association's president says armed guards at schools is the answer.
"A child growing up in America today witnesses 16,000 murders and 200,000 acts of violence by the time he or she reaches the ripe old age of 18,” says Wayne Lapierre, CEO of the National Rifle Association. “And does anybody really believe that the next Adam Lanza isn't planning his attack on a school he has already identified this very moment?"
Many people have mixed reactions on the issue.
"No, I don't think so,” says Linda Jost, a mother of three children in Bakersfield. “Being a former teacher, I never encountered those problems where I taught, there's good and evil in the world.”
Nick Medina of Bakersfield says there’s nothing wrong with having more security at all schools.
"I think that kids should have some way or someone to defend them like the police," he says. “The cost shouldn’t matter, you can’t put a price on a child.”
Both the Bakersfield Police and Kern County Sheriff's Department are working with slim resources, so if a school district wants an armed officer, Youngblood says it will have to pay thousands for it.
“To attempt to put an officer in every one of those schools, we're talking about 270 million dollars give or take and that's about 77 million more than the sheriff's budget for the entire year,” he says. “You’re talking about an enormous amount of money that we could spend in putting officers at schools, and we still haven’t solved the problem.”
Youngblood says each district with a school resource officer pays about $100,000 for the security.
"There are a lot of things we could talk about to try and secure our children's safety,” he says. “But at the end of the day, there is no full-proof system in society that we can guarantee we're going to protect someone 100 percent."
"This isn't the answer; this is a very complex issue that requires a very complex answer," says Kern County Sheriff, Donny Youngblood.
Youngblood says there are only three deputies serving as school resource officers for three school districts. Those are Greenfield, Beardsley and Standard. The Kern High School District has its own police department where officers patrol each of its school. But most Kern elementary and middle schools don’t have any assigned officer.
"If society decides that we need a police officer in every school, we certainly could do that if the money was there,” he says. “But it's not going to necessarily fix the problem, it's only going to fix the symptom, mental illness is the problem.”
It's been a week since 28 people lost their lives in the Newtown, Connecticut shooting while the president is pushing for more gun control, the National Rifle Association's president says armed guards at schools is the answer.
"A child growing up in America today witnesses 16,000 murders and 200,000 acts of violence by the time he or she reaches the ripe old age of 18,” says Wayne Lapierre, CEO of the National Rifle Association. “And does anybody really believe that the next Adam Lanza isn't planning his attack on a school he has already identified this very moment?"
Many people have mixed reactions on the issue.
"No, I don't think so,” says Linda Jost, a mother of three children in Bakersfield. “Being a former teacher, I never encountered those problems where I taught, there's good and evil in the world.”
Nick Medina of Bakersfield says there’s nothing wrong with having more security at all schools.
"I think that kids should have some way or someone to defend them like the police," he says. “The cost shouldn’t matter, you can’t put a price on a child.”
Both the Bakersfield Police and Kern County Sheriff's Department are working with slim resources, so if a school district wants an armed officer, Youngblood says it will have to pay thousands for it.
“To attempt to put an officer in every one of those schools, we're talking about 270 million dollars give or take and that's about 77 million more than the sheriff's budget for the entire year,” he says. “You’re talking about an enormous amount of money that we could spend in putting officers at schools, and we still haven’t solved the problem.”
Youngblood says each district with a school resource officer pays about $100,000 for the security.
"There are a lot of things we could talk about to try and secure our children's safety,” he says. “But at the end of the day, there is no full-proof system in society that we can guarantee we're going to protect someone 100 percent."