“All [Coolidge Police Officer Alan] Scott Urkov did was drop his daughter off at Entz Elementary School. Little did he know that what he was wearing that day would lead to a call from the principal,” myfoxphoenix.com reports. “‘There were some parents who were concerned about that fact that there was a fully armed officer on campus and they spoke to the principal about it,’ said Helen Hollands, spokesperson for Mesa Unified School District (the City’s largest employer). She says the principal spoke with Officer Urkov and asked him not to wear his uniform and gun to school anymore.” True story, from a city 20 miles east of Phoenix in “gun friendly” Arizona. “Mesa Unified School District officials say they didn’t realize they had upset or offended the officer by asking him not to wear his uniform here on campus . . .
“We apologize that he took the discussion the wrong way perhaps, that was not the intent of the principal to offend him,” said Hollands.
Nothing like a half apology to make everyone feel better. Well, the person making the apology anyway. The story doesn’t say whether or not the Officer will wear his uniform and heater when dropping off his daughter from now on or not.
Officer Urkov told me he was advised by his department not to comment on this story, and to “just let it be.”
Meanwhile, while school officials’ initial reaction was to ask the officer not to wear his gun and uniform to school, they are now saying they want to turn this incident into “a teachable moment.”
Speaking of teachable moments, now would be a good time for some right-thinking Mesa parents to exercise their right to open carry at the school gates, mindful of the fact that Arizona does not enforce Bush the Elder’s unconscionable Gun Free School Zones Act (1000 foot exclusionary zone around public schools).