Lodi Schools to Employ Armed, Retired Cops

A northern New Jersey school district plans to hire retired police officers to patrol its hallways as armed security guards.

Lodi Police Chief Vincent Caruso tells The Record of Woodland Park that the shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., prompted them to review security plans for the district's elementary schools.

Lodi's school board approved an agreement Wednesday with the borough in which the local government will pay the approximate $200,000 annually it will cost to hire five retired police officers: one for each public elementary school in the district.

Caruso says he believes Lodi's program is the first in Bergen County to use armed retired cops in the schools. He says the Essex County town of Belleville has a similar program.

(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)