Lawmaker Wants Officers at All Public Schools

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) — A bill filed by Rep. Bakari Sellers that would guarantee a trained police officer is stationed at every public school in South Carolina will move forward to an education committee for a hearing. Chairman of an education sub-committee is in favor of moving forward a bill to house school resource officers at South Carolina’s more than 1, 177 public schools. In a phone interview with ABC Columbia, Congressman Andrew Patrick from Hilton Head says he will recommend the bill to proceed to the Education and Public Works committee for a hearing. The legislation, filed this week in the House by Representative Bakari Sellers, would ensure the presence of a student resource officer at all public schools and would give them power to arrest suspects on campus if a threat is present. Sellers says critics who say the bill would be to costly should speak to parents who might argue the value of their school children’s lives is priceless.