Police chief committed to ALICE program

By Guest

Dear Editor:

As many of you know, I appeared before the School Committee on December 6 to explain an enhanced lockdown program called ALICE. Although the School Committee was receptive, they rightfully wanted more information than I could give them in a short meeting that was not totally dedicated to school safety. As a result, we collectively decided that it was in everyone’s best interest to meet again after the holidays so that we could spend the time needed to fully cover the topic. The plan was to then hold a parent/guardian night to inform the public on what the program is all about and to dispel any myths or misinformation that was out there. I am afraid that the headline in the Canton Citizen last week may have led some people (who did not read the entire article) to believe that I do not fully support ALICE.

Nothing could be more to the contrary. The fact of the matter is, the Canton Police Department and the Canton School Department have been partnering together for almost a year to improve the existing plan. We had the vision to undertake this long before the latest tragic shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. We will continue to collaborate to implement enhancements to the plan that make the students, the faculty and the responding police officers safer.

As the colors for the Sandy Hook school are green and white, I would ask that you place a green candle in your window to show the support the town of Canton has toward their community. Please also take a minute this holiday season to keep the victims of all senseless acts of violence, as well as their families, in your thoughts and prayers.

Police Chief Ken Berkowitz

Chief Berkowitz responds to Newtown tragedy

Editor’s Note: In response to the recent tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, Canton Police Chief Ken Berkowitz issued the following statement to the Canton Citizen on Monday.

[The Canton Police] covered all the schools starting Friday when the Newtown shooting was unfolding, and this morning we covered every arrival at school also. We think having students see an officer when they arrive for school will reassure them that they are safe.

The country as a whole needs to do a better job identifying people with mental illness that may perpetrate these crimes. In addition, gun owners need to be more responsible and work harder to safeguard their weapons. A lot of people confuse semi-automatic weapons with automatic weapons. There are very few automatic weapons (none legally owned in Canton by private citizens). In terms of gun control laws, I think Massachusetts laws are sufficient.

Metal detectors are not the solution in these types of cases. What the public needs to understand is that the persons who are committing these horrific attacks are going to the school with the sole intention to kill as many people as possible. They will shoot the first people they encounter, including a security person at the school’s entrance. We need to give students, teachers and staff the best chance to survive, and in my opinion, that means adding evacuation as an option and the last possible solution being confrontation and distraction of the shooter.

This is not a problem that will be solved by law enforcement. This is cultural. The current environment our children are being raised in desensitizes them to violence, whether it be by playing graphic video games, [exposure to] current world events or a lack of respect for life.

God bless the young lives cut short by violence everywhere and the families that have to endure the loss of a loved one, whether it is in a school shooting, on an urban street corner, or in a foreign country.

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