CORPUS CHRISTI — Training after training, all to help make sure they are prepared for whatever comes their way during the school year.
CCISD Police Chief Kirby Warnke tells me officers go through hours of active shooter and hand-to-hand combat training.
"The charge we have is to protect our children," said Warnke.
Governor Greg Abbott signed House Bill 3 into law, which requires an armed person to be at every campus within a school district.
33 more positions opened with the school district, and according to Chief Warnke, they are filling these positions with police officers or senior safety officers.
"A senior safety officer is someone with either a level 3 security license or a license to carry. Then we will give them some special training. They'll go through all the training's we go to, and then we will place them in our elementary campuses," Warnke said.
Chief Warnke said although they were already protecting their campuses, they are always working on ways to better secure them.
"If we're out here, without permission, you can't get passed this point," Warnke said.
An enclosed area at the front of a school is known as a vestibule, which helps prevent anyone from going past the entrance.
There are also cameras at every campus sending video back to CCISD police department headquarters.
Safety security officers and police officers will also patrol schools to ensure that all doors are locked. CCISD officials said it has either updated schools or built new schools to include new safety features.
"You get rid of the older schools that were designed in a different era, and we update all the new safety features in a new building that we've learned over time," Warnke said.
