By Marcia Kramer
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — An epidemic of violence and an arsenal of guns, knives and other weapons in city schools has finally prompted Mayor Bill de Blasio to take action.
CBS2 cameras were exclusively on hand at one school Monday, where a cache of weapons was confiscated, Marcia Kramer reported.
The head of the school safety union is calling the mayor’s new plan “Back to the Future,” because it involves redeploying cops who, before the whole “defund the police” movement, were an integral party of reducing school violence and keeping kids safe.
And since the defund movement made safety agents in schools a political hot potato, our cameras weren’t exactly welcome at one unannounced screening Monday.
They showed up at the crack of dawn for an unannounced screening at Susan Wagner High School on Staten Island. Exclusive video shows at least a dozen agents sent from the four other boroughs with special screening equipment that is one of the centerpieces of the mayor’s new plan to crack down on school violence.
The Susan Wagner location was selected after there was a wild brawl at the school last Friday. A safety agent was dragged to the floor while trying to stop a 13-year-old who was later arrested after she allegedly used a kitchen knife to menace other students.
And while school officials were not pleased to have the massive policing action caught on tape, they were probably thrilled with the outcome. Sources told CBS2 that brass knuckles, pepper spray and a knife were confiscated.
Another unannounced action at the Mott Haven School Complex in the Bronx, where a fully loaded .22-caliber pistol was found last week, turned up a steak knife and two box cutters, sources said.
Watch the full story at https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2021/10/25/new-york-city-school-violence-unannounced-weapons-screenings-school-safety-agents-nypd-bill-de-blasio/