NY Senate Defines School Shootings As Terrorism: Murphy

Senator Terrence Murphy (R-40) was a sponsor of a comprehensive safety plan to improve security and keep children safe at schools and other venues that recently passed the New York State Senate. The bill defines school shootings as terrorism and is also meant to the methods of gathering of intelligence to protect schools against attack.

This bill enables individuals to be charged with committing an act of terrorism if they knowingly and unlawfully discharge a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school, a place of worship, a mass gathering of 25 or more people, or a business; and, it protects these type of sites under counter-terrorism laws, said the state senator who represents parts of Dutchess, Putnam and Westchester counties.

The bill also codifies the operations of the New York State Intelligence Center, making the center responsible for the collection, processing, analysis, dissemination, sharing, and maintenance of intelligence information to aid in detecting, preventing, investigating and responding to acts of terrorism, including school shootings.

The center would cooperate with the state Division of Homeland Security among other state, local and federal government agencies, including schools and the state department of education for the first time as part of that collaboration. The bill also requires the establishment of a new Buffalo office to the current fusion centers in Albany and New York City and increase the information-sharing and analysis capabilities of the state.

"Given the continued acts of extreme violence that have needlessly cost the lives of innocent victims, we need strong legislation that will protect the lives of our children and families, whether they are at school, attending a concert or in a place of worship," said Murphy in an announcement about the bill. "This legislation rightfully classifies premeditated acts of violence against large groups of people as terrorism and allows law enforcement to treat these threats as such. In addition, it gives the New York Intelligence Center the tools it needs to collect, investigate and share information with all stakeholders that will ultimately prevent future tragedies from occurring."

Anthony A. Scarpino, Jr., theWestchester District Attorney, said adding schools, businesses and houses of worship as protected area will give DAs another avenue for prosecution.

"Intelligence sharing among all levels of law enforcement is critical to our ability to detect and respond to these types of threats. I applaud the bills' focus on enhancing the State's intelligence network," Scarpino said.

Murphy said the Senate has a comprehensive school safety package including more than a dozen bills. He called it "a strong response to the senseless violence we have witnessed in schools across the nation" and said it would prevent those incidents from happening here.

The bills increase the ability of schools to hire qualified security personnel; create new state funding mechanisms for infrastructure investments that improve school safety; increase access to school-based mental health services; expand state actions and intelligence coordination to protect schools against attack, and strengthen penalties for crimes on school grounds.

In the last year alone, he said, the Senate successfully extended a 10 percent increase in building aid for schools to fund additional security measures like door hardening, metal detectors, and other related infrastructure.

The Senate also secured $25 million in new funding for non-public schools, day cares, and community centers at risk for hate crimes and $15 million for non-public schools to increase their security. Initiatives like these will continue to be a part of this coming year's budget negotiations, he said.

Additional safety measures are also expected to be unveiled next week as part of the conference's Security Agenda. Murphy's bill and the other bills in the school safety plan will be sent to the Assembly.

Photo via Sen. Murphy's office