The safety of students and staff in the school has been a growing concern for some. Many precautions such as metal detectors, bag checking and more are available to security guards to protect everyone in the building. At the last school board meeting, the board approved adding patrol rifles to that list. 

On Dec. 5, the school board began discussing the use of patrol rifles by officers. The topic started gaining publicity on Jan. 9, and school officers, Greg McNeal and John McFalls, held a public presentation. They answered questions regarding the safety and use of these patrol rifles. 

“Our ultimate goal as AASD PD is safety. That’s why we are employed. We are here to help the AASD staff and students protect all our employees and also make the community feel safer knowing that AASD has a great resource in the school district police department. We address both internal and external threats. We provide coverage for normal school hours, extra curricular activities, sporting events, school board meetings, summer lunch and school programs and many other functions within  the district. We’re also here to educate our youth and show them that the police are their friend, not their enemy. Being integrated into a school system where we are approachable on a daily basis helps to curb the negative association some community members may have with law enforcement,” McFalls said.

McFalls explained that many of the hallways in the B building are over 60 yards. Some even extend to over 100+ yards. Because of the school complex and buildings being so vast, the duty pistols that security guards carry on them are not as effective as other firearms would be.

 “Patrol rifles give us the ability to maximize efficiency and proficiency while remaining highly accurate during these incidents,” McFalls said.

One of the public concerns was regarding if the officers would be carrying the patrol rifles or if they would be stored in a safe location. 

“The rifles will be available to them when they need them. They will not be carrying them on their person as they walk or patrol the halls. They’re just available in the event that we’d have a crisis situation,” public relations director Paula Foreman said. 

“There was a misconception that we addressed at the school board meeting where they thought we were strapping these to our backs and carrying them around the school on a daily basis. This is not the case,” McFalls said.

 The AASD police department is structured in that there is a director, three sworn police officers who have the same powers as any neighboring police department, (Altoona Police department or Logan Township Police Department) and security personnel and greeters. 

“Our security and greeters are all Act 235 certified which enables them to carry a duty pistol as armed security in the state of PA. Neither the greeters or security will have access to these rifles,” McFalls said. “I am the departmental firearms instructor as well as a federally licensed gunsmith. I provide and oversee the training for all staff in our department. We have a PROP (program-patrol rifle operator program), which each officer will go through in order to qualify to carry a rifle. This is eight hours of instruction, some classroom based and some range time. There is a written test and a practical exam that needs to be passed in order to qualify to use the rifle. There is also a yearly qualification to maintain proficiency in each weapon we carry in our department. We intend on storing these rifles safely and out of sight so that they will only be used in the event of an emergency or during training.” 

The policy was adopted unanimously by the school board on Jan. 17, 2023.

“Unfortunately we live in a world where bad things happen. In the event that a major incident such as an active shooter occurs here, we want the ability and the tools needed to neutralize the threat,” McFalls said.