SAN FRANCISCO, CA – After losing a battle with the administration over arming police officers, police chief Carl Koehler resigned in protest from his position at the City College of San Francisco (CCSF).
For 70 years, the school has prohibited campus police from carrying guns. They currently patrol the campus armed only with bulletproof vests, batons and pepper spray.
Koehler began lobbying the administration to change the policy in 2005. The shootings at Virginia Tech and the arrest of Peter Lee, a 52-year-old man who rushed into a science building last April and allegedly threatened to kill the students inside, further convinced Koehler of the need to arm campus police.
In an E-mail to his officers, Koehler acknowledged his decision to resign involved multiple factors, but mainly rested on the college’s refusal to change their minds.
CCSF Vice Chancellor Peter Goldstein does not foresee the issue reemerging for the college unless taken up by the board of trustees.
