Is this a good or bad idea in your book? Would you feel safe seeing security armed with glocks, tasers, pepper spray and cuffs? I have seen it both ways. Unarmed and Armed. With proper training. I see no reason not too.
With society the way it is. Assaults are more and more common. Especially in the ER's across the country. Mental health and drug use is growing every day and no one has a solution for it.

I see the good and bad in people almost every shift. Being armed is another tool to use if needed, but , pray you don't.

In the military, the situation is straight forward if your in an infantry unit. You know the situation your going into the people will be armed.

Sarge

Wow armed in a hospital, I couldn't imagine it out where I live. Small Town hospitals no. Maybe in the city hospitals it a good idea but I don't live out there. At our local hospital there is a check in secretary and an information desk usually manned by a senior citizen.
I have been to the city hospitals and it is a different world for sure. Have never heard of incidents happening but I'm sure they do, just another reason for me to live out in the country.

Why do they need armed guards? In the last ten years or so every hospital I am aware of has a no weapons or smoking sign. The no gun no smoking/chewing policy should be enough protection.

Unarmed, uniformed security guards are dead men walking if the wirst ever happens.

Danny, bad guys don't give a hoot to what a sign says or a law. Metals detectors are in my area hospitals, and we are all rural. Mark my word, Armed security or off duty LEO's are going to be in all hospitals within the next few years. Sign of the times. Wither people like it or not. Sarge

The large hospitals I am at as a chaplain all have armed security, but their visible presence is minimal. The dispatch area is where the cameras and security persons are at and they have a bunch of lens everywhere these days. Most of these security personnel are men who have military background and every last one of the ones I've met is serious about their role of "securing."

How much gun violence actually happens in hospitals? A quick search showed that simple assaults, patients against staff were between 0,08 and 3%. Actual gun violence is way below those small figures.

Most of the articles and studies I read claimed an "increase" in violence but offered no statistical evidence of that.

i think i will carry my own firearm and whoever put the sign up will just have to be upset about it

As far as tasers...unless its the kind that you have to actually touch someone with it, the gun type that fires leads are basically worthless unless the target is naked.

They put up a No weapons sign ought to be liable for the publics overall Protection. Take away the Right to self protect. Liable

"Dispatch area" almost spit my coffee till I read the rest lol
On this site dispatch area takes on a whole new meaning

I was in an ortho wing once and armed guards where assigned to guard a prisoner. When we did our walking in the halls, a guard accompanied the handcuffed prisoner.

I can visualize someone being murdered to prevent them from testifying.

In 2007 my wife was in a bad vehicle accident and was air flighted to Vanderbuilt Hospital in Nashville Tn. While she was in Emergency, a gang related shooting victim was brought in and Emergency immediately went into armed lockdown. We were told it was standard procedure in case members of the other gang tried to follow-up and finish the job at the hospital. Based on that, I assume armed security is standard practice in most or all big city hospitals.

paramedics in Detroit wear bullet proof vests.

I'm fine with armed guards. I think everyone should be armed.

Domestics and gang violence are a concern in the larger urban trauma centers.

As do some of Atlanta's.

My wife works in an ER in a hospital with no security. She's been punched, kicked, pinched more times than she can count. Most violence against medical professionals goes unreported. Most times it's the hospital system that doesn't want the publicity of having someone assaulted. So they make it go away.

I bet if you polled any medical pro that has been at the job for more than 5 years you'd find that the number of those that had been slapped, punched, or kicked would be near 100%.

In our town the response time for our police is around 5-10 minutes. A motivated violent person can do a lot of damage and get away in the short amount of time.

Do I think there should be armed security in hospitals?? yes. At least the ER or entrance to the ER.

I once had a dust up with a nurse at my local ER. She pitched a hissy because of the fixed blade in its sheath on my hip. I had been there for an hour with the missus and this idiot wanted to act like I was some kind of threat. Made me take it out to the car.

When they were finally done and we were leaving I made it a point to stop by her station and empty my pockets on her desk just to show her that I was far from unarmed and not a threat the entire time.

The missus has worked in nursing homes her entire life, since she was 15, and getting hit, groped, pinched, etc is just part of the job. It can range from dementia to lecherous old farts to outright hostility. What's sad is some of those little old ladies can be downright mean.