Most organizations with a security problem respond by increasing he presence of armed police officers. When businesses have challenges you’ll find an armed guard in the lobby. When politicians have challenges their armed entourage will expand, and when airlines have challenges they place armed Air Marshals on more flights. But, when a typically oversensitive university sees a gun on campus they treble in fear, without realizing that that good guy with a gun may be the one thing that saves them from yet another misguided mass shooting . . . especially if he is a trained cop.
In the end it was put to rest as an appropriate response to the hyper vigilant concerns of an ignorant student, but you would think a student this concerned about his safety would find comfort having an armed police officer in class.
As Reported by: inquisitr.com
Ever since the election a newly formed group called “Snowflakes” have been criticized for being too sensitive or “soft,” but are they really? Well, things were taken to a new level in New Orleans this week as a student insisted a college professor call the police on another student who was armed and happened to be wearing his official police officer’s uniform to class.
Josh Collins has continuing his education at Loyola University in New Orleans for the past eight years. Currently, he is taking a class titled “Law and Morality.” Ironically, that is where all of his troubles took place this past week.
As reported by The Hayride, even though Collins is in school at Loyola, he is also a Sergeant for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. Most days, he changes out of his uniform before class if working beforehand, or he’ll change into it after class is over if he works a late shift.
The Christmas season is always busy for the police forces around the country, this year is no different. On Wednesday, Collins was running a bit behind, so instead of changing out of his uniform, he simply headed to class from work and didn’t change to avoid being late.
Upon arriving at class, things began to take an odd turn. Josh Collins wrote a long and detailed post on his Facebook page that described the entire incident. The class he has attended in civilian clothes for the last six weeks was very different on this day.
“You know, as a white male conservative, I have put up with a lot of prejudicial and biased comments directed towards me while attending Loyola University New Orleans. I usually think the comments are funny because the ideals of a 18 year old ultra-socialist frankly are funny to me. But today made me sad for the youth and the college I have attended for 8 years.”
Being in full uniform, Collins was indeed armed with his registered weapon. It was the first time that anyone in the class knew what he did for a living. Shortly after arriving, one of his classmates complained to the professor, that they were extremely uncomfortable having “an armed police officer” in the class.
The Loyola University professor then called the police on Sergeant Josh Collins. Yes, a professor at Loyola University in New Orleans called the police to report an armed police officer in his class.
“My professor then pulled me out of class and told me that he had called the police based on the student complaint. The police obviously never came and told him over the phone that I was perfectly within the law.”
The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office Sergeant went on to say that he now feels he must “hide” his profession “in order to obtain a fair education.” He was dumbfounded by the fact that a professor at a university that focuses on social justice, actually called the cops on a police officer who was just attending class but happened to be in full uniform.
UPDATE on Dec. 11, 2016: According to WWL, representatives of Loyola University said that the situation was a misunderstanding. The entire incident was said to have taken place during a 15-minute break between classes and that the professor contacting campus police acted within university policy per a statement from the school.
“A student in the class saw another student with a firearm, and during a class break said something to the teacher. The teacher contacted campus security to determine university policy. Campus security directed the teacher to confirm that the student with the firearm works in law enforcement. The teacher confirmed that the student worked in law enforcement and the class resumed at the end of the break.”
Josh Collins has been going to Loyola University in New Orleans for eight years now. At the same time, he’s protecting and serving the community as a police officer. He surely never expected to have his fellow officers called on him for simply showing up to class in his uniform with a gun on his hip. Still, it happened, and the professor of the class was advised that Collins had done nothing wrong.
Sources: Facebook, inquisitr.com