Magruder High School shooting triggers debate over use of school resource officers

ROCKVILLE, Md. - Concerns over school security continue in Montgomery County following a shooting at Magruder High School.

FOX 5's Melanie Alnwick says police have provided an extra presence by being stationed outside Montgomery County high schools this week.

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Alnwick says that by the first of February -- according to the Montgomery County Public School request -- the police officers and sheriff's deputies stationed will be gone.

Community engagement officers have been told to be more visible and check in with schools more often, Alnwick says. During a media briefing, County Executive Marc Elrich said school violence has always been around and that security staff are managing it.

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"All the schools have multiple security people and what you actually see - which I think is a good sign and gets lost in all of this - is that a lot of incidents in schools that would've been handled before by calling in police are actually being handled internally – the way we thought they should be – by school security," Elrich said. "Which is a much better way of handling the problem then bringing the police into it."

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In the week since the shooting thousands more have signed a petition to bring school resource officers back to schools. But Montgomery County Public School officials and police leaders say they do not plan to reinstate the program as it existed for 19 years before being canceled this school year.