The owner of a Jefferson City-based security firm has suggested school safety could improved if local leaders would be willing to hire private - and potentially armed - security officers.
Jim Clark, founder and CEO of J & J Security and Investigations LLC, said: "Private security firms are more cost effective than police, with just about the same training."
Clark said he and his staff approached the local school district with their ideas shortly after the recent massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn.
"They made a generous offer to have an additional presence, free of charge, in the schools on Thursday and Friday," the last two days of school until the winter break, said David Luther, assistant to the superintendent for the Jefferson City Schools. But he added: "Things are not as simple as that."