Sheriff Candidate On Posses In Laramie County Schools For Safety

Laramie County Sheriff candidate Brian Kozak says that while the idea is just in the discussion stage, the idea of putting voluntary posse members in local schools as a security measure might be worth considering.

Former Cheyenne Police Chief Brian Kozak recently mentioned the idea on his campaign Facebook page.

I could not sleep after yesterday’s tragic school shooting. I know gun control is not the answer; if evil is intent on killing, it will find a way to kill. I was a cop in Maricopa County when Sheriff Joe Arpaio was my sheriff. I loved his posse because they helped me to lower crime in our neighborhoods. As you know, I want to implement a posse program if elected sheriff. My question to you is this. If we properly trained posse members or school employees, who passed a background check / psychological test, in the use of firearms, would you support volunteer posse members in our schools. Additionally, do you know people who would want to join our team as posse members to volunteer their time to protect our children?

We spoke to him on Friday about the idea.

Listen to his comments below:

But one of his rivals for the Republican nomination for sheriff, Captain Don Hollingshead of the Laramie County Sheriff's office, says that while there might be merit to the idea of armed volunteers in schools, he also has some concerns:

"I agree with Kozak that some type of organized volunteer security would be beneficial to help insure the safety of our children in the schools.

My only concern is the follow through of the volunteers to engage in the required ongoing training needed to insure they maintain their skills in both firearms and de-escalation tactics. It has been my experience that although volunteers have the best intentions not all are willing to keep up with all that is necessary to maintain their training hours. Which is necessary not only for safety but for liability purposes. We ran into that with our Reserve Program and due to this it was disbanded by Sheriff Glick. Should I be elected Sheriff I plan to bring back the program building it from the bottom up and in a manner that is more sustainable. 

We need to look at the situation with the schools with long-term goals and sustainability in mind and not act in a reactionary manner. If we don’t, we may end up facing unintended consequences which could damage any positive intentions. Plans for safety and sustainable training are a must before any type of security program is considered and implemented.

UPDATE: Hollingshead has contacted us and asked that we clarify that any such step would need the approval of the local school districts before being implemented. Kozak also mentioned that in his interview.

Hollingshead also asked that we add to following comments to his statement:

“It will take a great deal of effort on the part of the many stakeholders and partners to make school safety a reality. My hope is that we can all pull together to get to the process going before people forget about this most recent tragedy and The conversation gets sidelined until it happens again”