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MERIDEN, Conn. — Officials in Meriden want to assure parents and students that the school environment is safe following a concerning incident where a handgun was brought into school.

City and school officials told FOX61 they rely partly on a strong relationship with Meriden Police, who only have 106 officers out of their full complement of 123. That’s led to some tough decisions. The short staffing has forced school resource officers to be plucked from their original duties. 

“We pulled the SROs out of our middle schools for a temporary basis to help backfill some of the vacancies we had on patrol,” explained Mayor Kevin Scarpati.

It comes as a handgun was brought into the Washington Middle School Tuesday. That student is now facing possible criminal charges while the board of education is looking into more than a suspension.

“There’s a statute that we have to follow 10-233-D that says any kind of firearm or facsimile thereof, it’s mandated expulsion but I can’t speak to the facts because I haven’t been given all of them yet and we ultimately have to be the arbiters in that case,” explained Rob Kosienski, the President of the Meriden Board of Education.

Some say the student shouldn’t be criminalized. Kristin Song of Guilford was instrumental in passing Connecticut’s safe gun storage law which was named after her son Ethan, who was killed playing with an unsecured firearm at a friend’s house. 

“Kids are watching us. They are watching where we are putting the keys and where we are putting the gun,” said Song.

Police say this gun was stored in a safe in the child’s home. Separately from ammunition and was licensed. The child found the key. 

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“Once a child has the dexterity to use a key I would think you’d have to up your responsibility. Move toward a combination lock or a biometric lock,” added Song.

Meriden school officials told FOX61 they’ve invested thousands of dollars in school safety ranging from camera systems to door locks. But some have suggested Meriden deploy metal detectors inside the schools. 

“Metal detectors, we’ve heard from teachers across the nation who have worked in building with them who now live and work in Meriden and say it didn’t work there it won’t work here. So we feel that just puts up more barriers to a climate we don’t necessarily want in Meriden,” remarked Mayor Scarpati.

To clear up some community confusion, there was not a two-day delay in communication with parents. The gun was spotted by another student on Tuesday but wasn’t reported to school administrators and police until Thursday. That’s the same day that the district sent a letter home.

Matt Caron is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at mcaron@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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