Barrington officials taking closer look at school security

Police investigate incident at middle school, dismiss it as a misunderstanding

Posted 3/2/18

Barrington officials are meeting today to discuss school security.

Barrington Town Manager Jim Cunha, Superintendent of Schools Michael Messore and Police Chief John LaCross are among those who …

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Barrington officials taking closer look at school security

Police investigate incident at middle school, dismiss it as a misunderstanding

Posted

Barrington officials are meeting today to discuss school security.

Barrington Town Manager Jim Cunha, Superintendent of Schools Michael Messore and Police Chief John LaCross are among those who will attend the meeting and discuss ways to make Barrington students and teachers safer while they're at school.

"We're looking at ramping up the security," said Mr. Cunha. 

The town manager said officials are considering an increased police presence at the schools, both outside the buildings, and inside. 

"This would not just be the SRO," said Mr. Cunha, referring to the school resource officer. 

The school security meeting follows an incident involving three Barrington Middle School students on Wednesday, Feb. 28. According to Chief LaCross, the police department received a call on Wednesday after someone overheard three middle school students talking about a school shooting. The witness believed that the students were talking about planning an attack.

Chief LaCross said detectives investigated the situation and spoke to all three students and their families. He said police learned that the students had actually been talking about what they would do in the event of an attack at their school. 

"Their conversation then changed to 'if they were the shooter,'" said Chief LaCross. 

The chief added that the explanations for all three student matched up. Chief LaCross still wanted to praise the individual who shared the tip with police. He said people should not hesitate to contact local law enforcement about these situations.

"It's something everyone should be taking seriously," he said.

Chief LaCross also said it's important for children and adults to be "mindful and careful" about the types of conversations they are having, in person and on social media.

"We're in a heightened alert status," said the chief. "People need to be careful about what they're saying and what they're posting."

Police presence was increased at the middle school on Thursday morning as students arrived, and officials at the school spent time speaking with students about school security.

On Friday, town leaders were expected to plan additional security enhancements at the town's six public schools.

Mr. Cunha believes he can bring a certain level of expertise to the conversation. The town manager is a retired Navy officer and during his three decades of work with the military, he spent three years in charge of security for the Navy at the Pentagon as the leader of anti-terrorism and force protection. 

"I've got some background in this," he said. 

Mr. Cunha said he believes a multi-layered approach will be needed in Barrington and beyond.

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A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.