One county employee concerned about the county’s updated firearms policy voiced his opinion directly to commissioners this week in open session.
Bob Schmidt works part time as an account clerk for the county’s planning and zoning and parks and recreation departments and spoke out at the commission’s administrative session held Tuesday, Sept. 3.
He said the employee handbook did not contain any information about firearms and that he and other employees were not informed of any policy change. He felt it was the county’s responsibility to provide a safe working environment, not the employee’s responsibility to defend themselves.
“Allowing employees to carry firearms in this building (the administration building), in my opinion, is not supplying safety and security,” Schmidt said. “The county is, in fact, placing the social cost of safety and security on every county employee rather than providing the employee with a safe and secure work environment. They are saying that we — myself included -— need to provide for our own safety and security.”
He suggested instead that the county reinstate the security checkpoint that once was in place at the entrance to the county administration building in Platte City. The checkpoint, which included a metal detector, was eliminated more than a decade ago due to budget reductions.
Presiding commissioner Ron Schieber said the commissioners could look into reinstating the checkpoint, but as it had been gone for many years without any security problems at the administration building, he wasn’t sure it was necessary.
Commissioners also noted that the new policy did not affect employees in the administration building, as they had already been given the freedom to carry concealed weapons.
Schmidt said he did not know this, and that there was no mention of any firearms policies in the employee handbook at all. Knowing that the worker beside him could be carrying a concealed firearm does not make him feel safer, he said.
As a combat veteran, he said friendly fire was often the most dangerous, and that in a crisis situation he feared armed employees could accidentally make the situation worse.
The situation makes him question if he wants to continue his work at the county, he said.
Also at the meeting, commissioners approved the paperwork for the county’s 2020 grand funding for the Cyber Crimes Taskforce, which is headquartered in Platte County and investigates tech-related crimes – especially those involving child pornography and abuse – for much of northwest Missouri.
The county also entered into an agreement with the Park Hill School District to provide a school resource officer for the new Walden Middle School. The sheriff’s office provides five resource officers in Park Hill – one at each of the four middle schools and one at Park Hill High School. The Park Hill South High School resource officer is a Riverside officer.
Recruiting and retaining qualified officers remains a challenge for the county, according to Major Erik Holland. Many surrounding agencies offer better pay, meaning the county is often just a stepping stone for officers.