Providence councilor calls for meeting to discuss safety in wake of FL shooting

February 15, 2018 2:34 pm

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) –Providence City Councilor Michael Correia is among those looking to take action in the wake of the dozen plus lives lost in Florida Wednesday.

Correia is calling for a meeting with city officials including the Mayor, Police Commissioner, and Superintendent to look at gaps in school safety and ensure everything possible is being done to protect students.

"We all say that it’s not going to happen here in the city of Providence, well they didn’t think that it was going to happen either in Parkland, Florida and it did. It’s better to be safe than sorry,” said Correia.

Specifically, Correia is asking for an increased presence of uniformed officers in and around city schools, increased safety training and a complete review of policies and procedures already in place regarding active shooter scenarios.

"I’m concerned for my constituent’s children all my neighborhood youth that go to school,” said Correia.

The tragedy in Florida was the 18th school shooting in the first 45 days of 2018.

The Superintendent of Providence Public Schools issued a statement Thursday saying in part that

student safety is the number one concern.

"In light of yesterday’s events, we are actively reviewing our procedures and trainings to ensure that every staff member is prepared to act in an active shooter situation," said Superintendent Christopher Maher. "Due to obvious security issues, we will not be making our school-specific protocols public. Each school does, however, conduct a minimum of two lockdown drills annually to prepare for an active shooter scenario."

That statement goes on to say that several weeks about the School Board President requested that Providence Police review security systems in all city schools. That review is said to be underway.