Providence holds school safety meeting

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Just a few days after the one-month anniversary of the tragic school shooting in Connecticut, President Barack Obama takes the action he promised on trying to curb gun violence.

Wednesday he announced a series of proposals on gun control and signed executive orders aimed at toughening existing legislation.

Among those measures, he introduced tougher penalties on those who lie on background checks and grants money for improved school safety.

Wednesday night, the Providence City Council came together to re-evaluate security measures and emergency action plans that are already in place at schools throughout the district.

School officials say they have done a survey of the schools' security including do they have the right cameras, the right access procedures, and where can they make improvements.

Providence Police Chief Hugh Clements tells Eyewitness News that they have 11 assigned school resource officers to the high schools and middle schools and within the next couple of weeks the district will also be introducing new visitor procedures and new visitor badges.

Many of the district's security measures such as lockdown drills and bomb threat drills have been in place for years, but school officials agree there is still room for improvement.