GUILFORD COUNTY – While school district officials are divided over the value of school resource officers and the controversy over stun guns, local law enforcement chiefs are not.

The schools need the resource officers, and the Taser stun guns they carry are safe when properly used, three agency leaders said Wednesday.

“Whether you have the SROs in the schools is your call,” Sheriff BJ Barnes told the Guilford County Board of Education. “We are more expensive, but you get more and the children are better off.”

Barnes appeared at the invitation of district officials with High Point police Chief Jim Fealy and Greensboro police Assistant Chief Gary Hastings. The school board asked them to appear several months ago following a discussion of stun guns and SROs.

“It would be a colossal mistake to remove the SROs,” Fealy said. “The High Point high school principals want SROs available. They have kept catastrophic events from happening in our schools.”

Several county commissioners say paying $2.9 million for the 39 assigned officers may be too much. The school board is considering replacing SROs with security guards in middle schools. Private security guards have 16 to 40 hours of training while deputy sheriffs and other officers must have hundreds more, Barnes said.

“We do have to look at this as a budget matter,” said Amos Quick, school board vice chairman.

“We may need additional discussions to get to an agreement,” said Board Chairman Alan Duncan.

High Point police officers have yet to fire a stun gun at a student while on campus.

“I am concerned about Tasers and that they could be used improperly,” said board member Carlvena Foster of High Point.

Several board members worry stun guns can be lethal.

“It’s only a matter of time that an officer is going to use a Taser on a student and that child is going to die,” said at-large board member Sandra Alexander.

“I have a problem when we assume that a Taser is non-lethal,” said at-large member Nancy Routh, “especially when we don’t know the medical condition of the suspect.”

When properly used, a stun gun can be a “life-saving” tool, Fealy said, and also reduce injuries among officers and suspects during combative arrests.

“A Taser is not as dangerous as a student with a gun or a knife,” said board member Garth Hebert of High Point. “We have an unsafe environment in many schools.”

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