Mass. College Prepares to Arm Its Police Force

BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. — The Massachusetts Maritime Academy board of trustees voted to arm its campus police by fall 2015.

The decision — a 7-3 vote — will make the maritime academy the eighth in the nine-campus state university system to equip its police officers with guns. School administrators will now look for guns and prepare policies for appropriately using the firearms, CapeCodOnline.com reports.

In the mid-1980s, school officials stopped arming its campus police force, as students complained that the officers were “untrained, unprofessional and vindictive.” To make sure that the same issues do not arise, officers will be required to pass mental and physical tests and take firearms training before being armed.

Read the full story.

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