Violence Against Hospital Security Officers | Senators Unveil Bipartisan Bill to Improve Security at Federal Buildings | Plan to End Mandated Hiring of LEOs as Security Guards in Chicago Schools, and more

West Virginia Legislature Spars Over Language in School Security Officer Bill  (WVMetroNews)
The House of Delegates got mired Thursday in a nearly hour-long debate over an amendment to remove three words from a 14-page bill concerning the hiring of school security officers.
The Democrats, being a super-minority, lost the debate but exacted retribution by exercising the constitutional right to have every subsequent bill, but one, read in its entirety.
The bill is HB 4851.It allows a public or private school to hire an armed security officer who is former military or law enforcement.
The amendment, by Delegate Elias Coop-Gonzalez, dealt with the required training for the officers, which must include “awareness of systemic and individual racism, cultural diversity, and implicit bias.”
His amendment proposed to strike the words “systemic and individual.”

Plan to End Mandated Hiring of LEOs as Security Guards Awaits Chicago School District Approval, Union Says  (Sarah Macaraeg, Polic1)
As Chicago Public Schools plans to sunset its School Resource Officer program by the start of the 2024-25 school year, the district’s prior commitment to minimize the larger presence of police in schools serving as security guards remains up in the air.
Service Employees International Union Local 73, the union representing CPS support personnel, has offered to waive a contract stipulation that currently requires CPS to hire police in part-time security roles, union spokesperson Eric Bailey told the Tribune.
In December, SEIU sent CPS a proposed Memorandum of Understanding that would immediately allow the district to hire civilians in part-time security roles, and the union has been awaiting a response since, Bailey said.
CPS confirmed it received the memorandum and a spokesperson said the district is assessing the financial terms it contains. According to Bailey, the proposal doesn’t alter the current wage rate, but simply eliminates a requirement in place since at least 2018 that part-time security candidates “must have the legal authority to effectuate an arrest.”
The district’s overarching five-year contract with SEIU, which also represents CPS crossing guards, special education classroom assistants, bus aides and parent workers, expired in June

Concern Growing Over Armed Security Guards at Raleigh Bus Station  (Juliam Grace, WRAL News)
Calls are growing to disarm security at the downtown Raleigh bus station.
This comes after a private armed security team recently started patrolling the transit center.
Not everyone is in favor of armed guards at the downtown station. There has been a push for guards to patrol, but without the guns.

Senators Unveil Bipartisan Bill to Improve Security at Federal Buildings  (Erich Wagner, Government Executive)
A bipartisan pair of senators on Wednesday announced the introduction of legislation aimed at making federal agencies more responsive to recommendations to beef up security at federal buildings.
In 2022, the Homeland Security Department’s Federal Protective Service and investigators with the Government Accountability Office told members of Congress that agencies frequently ignore recommendations to improve safety at federal facilities, often due to funding constraints. Between fiscal 2017 and 2021, agencies implemented just 22% of the more than 25,000 recommendations offered by the Federal Protective Service and closed out 70% without addressing them.
These revelations were particularly concerning to lawmakers as the government confronted a wave of threats against federal employees across federal agencies. President Biden, for his part, issued an executive order last November aimed at modernizing an interagency committee tasked with evaluating and improving security at federal buildings.
At a Senate hearing shortly after the executive order’s release, DHS applauded the measure, but urged lawmakers to do more to tackle the issue.

MCC to Arm College Security Officers with Rifles  (NC News10)
The decision was made to prepare against “rare, unlikely, and unfortunate circumstances” that could constitute a threat to school safety.
There’s no word so far on what type of rifles will be used, or whether they’ll be carried regularly.
MCC is now the 15th SUNY community college to arm its security with rifles.

Oakland-Based Clorox Hires Security Guards to Escort Employees Downtown  (Fox KTVU)
Oakland-based Clorox is the latest business downtown to take steps to protect its workers from crime.
The company says it’s hired additional uniformed security officers to escort employees from its building at 12th and Broadway to BART, parking lots, restaurants and coffee shops.
And they’ve also conducted safety awareness training with BART police.

Halifax Alehouse Security Officer’s Actions Caused Death of Man, Lawsuit Alleges  (Josh Hoffman, CBC)
The actions of a security officer at a downtown Halifax bar led to the death of a man on Christmas Eve in 2022, according to one of two civil lawsuits filed by the man’s family against the bar and a former employee.
Ryan Sawyer died in hospital after being found unconscious on the street in front of the Halifax Alehouse in the early hours of Dec. 24.
One lawsuit filed on behalf of the estate of Sawyer by his parents names the Alehouse and former security guard Alexander Levy as defendants.