So far this year, New York City schools have seen a dramatic increase in weapons seizure when compared to 2019.
From July through November, 10 firearms were recovered at NYC schools compared to just one in that period in 2019.
“Weapons have absolutely no place in our schools, and our outstanding school safety agents work every day to stop dangerous items from entering our school and keep our schools safe,” a Department of Education spokesperson said. “We worked in partnership with the NYPD to increase scanning in priority communities and the increase in recovered is a result of this vigilant work keeping dangerous items out of our schools.”
Greg Floyd, head of the union representing school safety agents, said they deal with all kinds of weapons.
“It’s not only guns: it’s knives, brass knuckles, pepper spray, stun guns – weapons of all kinds, but children are also making guns on 3D printers that are not detected by metal detectors,” he said.
Floyd said they’re down about 1,800 safety agents, even as gang activity grows.
“The older teenagers, the ones in their early 20s, [they] are giving the guns, to the younger kids because there’s no jail time there’s no consequences,” Floyd said.
Mona Davids, the head of the School Safety Coalition, agreed.
“If you are a teenager, you know that if you are caught with a firearm, with a gun, you are going home with your parent,” Davids said. “You know your case is going to be transferred to family court and you know that you’re going to be out. There’s no accountability.”
The NYPD confirms there are 86 scanning sites across the city out of 1,800 public schools.
