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A list of weapons confiscated this year from students in New York City schools is so disturbing that it explains why many schools have metal detectors.
In what the newspaper described as a “surging tide of weapons,” the New York Post reported that loaded revolvers, 9mm handguns, meat cleavers and daggers have been taken from students.
While it gives new meaning to school grounds being compared to combat zones, the union representing school safety agents says Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to keep parents and the public in the dark about the weapons.
Today's cover: City silences safety agents as weapon seizures soar at schools https://t.co/m2QHaMhKqt pic.twitter.com/58A8quIMQD
— New York Post (@nypost) May 15, 2016
Gregory Floyd, president of the agents union, Teamsters Local 237, claims the NYPD is giving agents a difficult time for alerting the press and public, according to the Post — the union chief said agents have tipped off union officials about the seized weapons, who then passed the information on to newspapers and TV stations.
Floyd says NYPD officials have even threatened to dock agents’ vacation days if they leak information.
“The purpose is to intimidate and to make an example of them so other safety agents will be afraid to report crime,” he told The Post.
The NYPD defended what some are calling the “bullying and harassing” of agents.
“Members of the NYPD, whether uniformed or civilian, are subject to department guidelines in making any statements to the media,” a spokesman said. “Disseminating official photos of potential evidence must be approved” by the public-information office.
Amid the weapons haul, a de Blasio appointed team is considering cutting the use of metal detectors in schools, the Post reported.
Floyd opposes the move, saying “it will increase the chances of someone getting hurt or killed.”
The mayor claims that crime in schools has declined, but the union president disagrees.
“In many cases, the children aren’t arrested, so the crime statistics are down, but it’s just not being reported,” Floyd said.
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The longest-tenured writer at BizPac Review, Tom grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills.
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