A North Haven grandfather is calling for police officers in local schools, again. Angelo Appi held a community meeting to discuss the issue at the North Haven American Legion on Thursday night.
“School shootings are not something new in this country. And the town of North Haven, for some reason or other, is reluctant to put law enforcement officers in the elementary in middle schools where they’re most needed,” said Appi.
The former New Haven police officer says he brought his case to the North Haven school board with no success. He even went as far as holding a sign with the words, “Sandy Hook: Is North Haven next? Your children’s lives are in jeopardy.”
“I got the same story. ‘We have lock down procedures. We lock our doors. We have door buzzers.’ And I said, Sandy Hook had all of that.”
Just days before Appi’s meeting, his son, Angelo Appi Jr., was arrested for posting video on the Internet of supposed security breaches at the Joseph Melillo Middle School in East Haven. Appi Sr. denied that his son’s incident was related to the meeting.
“I’ve been doing this since 2004,” Appi said.