PHOENIX (AZFamily)<\/b> \u2014 The deadly Minnesota Catholic school mass shooting is sparking security concerns at Phoenix-area places of worship.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s horrific. It\u2019s pure evil, and I\u2019m absolutely heartbroken over it,\u201d said a security expert who spoke with Arizona\u2019s Family on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n
The expert, who is a person of faith, has decades of experience in law enforcement, military and church security.<\/p>\n
He said the tragic Minnesota Catholic School shooting that left two children dead and several others hurt on Wednesday morning<\/a> is one he wants to keep from happening in the Phoenix metro area.<\/p>\n However, he said security for many places of worship is lacking.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve seen a wide variety of different levels of security at different houses of worship. Some have no security at all, which is heartbreaking,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He explained that some churches have a safety team made up of volunteers who are not armed. The security expert said it\u2019s not enough to stop an active shooter.<\/p>\n \u201cPersonally, I would go to a church and I\u2019d want to know if we have armed security. Again, I don\u2019t want \u2018Safety Vest Sam,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Mo Canady, the executive director for the National Association of School Resource Officers<\/a>, would go a step further.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need professional law enforcement officers in these roles who are not just standing guard at the door but are actually, actively engaged in this community and collecting information, getting ahead of situations that might occur,\u201d said Canady.<\/p>\n Canady said most private schools claim they can\u2019t afford school resource officers or upped security.<\/p>\n He and the security expert agreed that faith-based organizations must make room in their budgets for security.<\/p>\n \u201cChurches are soft targets. You need to ensure that you are leaving your children and your family in a safe place,\u201d said the expert.<\/p>\n The security expert also said families should ask faith leaders about their security measures and when they have them in place.<\/p>\n He said many places of worship only use security personnel during weekend mass and not other events during the week.<\/p>\n See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it<\/a>.<\/p>\n