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ATLANTA —For the first time, students at Georgia’s public colleges and universities will be allowed to legally carry stun guns, starting Friday.

State Rep. Buzz Brockway, R-Lawrenceville, sponsored the bill and told Channel 2’s Lori Geary this is all about safety.

“During the session, I was getting calls, especially from students at Georgia State, because there were three robberies in the library while we were in session, so there were a lot of students who contacted me to say, ‘Hey can I have one now?’” Brockway said.

Brockway said most campus policies prohibited the electroshock weapons on campus but this state law will trump those policies.

Earlier this year, Gov. Deal vetoed the campus carry bill, which would have allowed licensed gun owners to bring their weapons onto campus, excluding dorms, fraternity and sorority houses and sporting events.

Georgia HB 792 allows anyone 18 years or older or currently enrolled in a Georgia public college to carry a stun gun anywhere on campus.

University System of Georgia spokesman Charlie Sutlive released a statement to Geary, saying “Our … institutions are aware of HB 792 taking effect July 1, and we have been working directly with our campus chiefs of police and safety departments in preparation.”

The system’s chief of police sent out a memo to all campus public safety directors alerting them to the change in the law.

Georgia Gwinnett College student Ashley Flagg told Geary she would not carry a stun gun because she’s afraid it would be used against her.

Flagg, though, also said this was about her rights as a student.

“I think we should have the right to be able to carry it because in some cases people feel like they are threatened on campus,” Flagg said.

Chelsea Jackson, also a student at GGC, said stun guns should not be allowed.

“Just something else to give you an excuse to be violent to somebody because you want to. If someone pushes you in the hallway the wrong way or they step on your toe, if that person is having a bad day, then what?” Jackson said.

Brockway said, “We trust college students to fight wars for us, to drive, to get married, to make all sorts of decisions. I think we can count on them to act wisely and protect themselves.”

The law goes into effect Friday.

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ARRINGTON, Tenn. - Officials with the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office said they’re searching for two suspects after finding credit card skimmers in Arrington.

The two skimmers were found Tuesday on gas pumps at Rapid Pak Market in the 4800 block of Murfreesboro Road.

Authorities said the skimmers were found after the sheriff’s office got information of someone using a cloned credit card at two Sam’s Club locations in Murfreesboro and Antioch.

Officials said skimmers have most often been placed on pumps at the ends of the service area, since it’s more difficult for people in the store to see.

They added access doors on the pumps should have seals. If that seal has been broken or gone missing, someone possibly tampered with the pump.

Anyone with information on the men in the security photos has been urged to call the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office at 615-790-5554, ext. 3229 or Crime Stoppers at 615-794-4000.

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Chicago IL June 15 2016 Moonlighting Chicago Police officers dressed in uniform will soon be providing security at conventions and trade shows and patrolling the entire McCormick Place campus, thanks to an agreement advanced Tuesday in in the wake of recent terrorist attacks in Orlando, Paris and Brussels.

Since 1996, the city and the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority have had an agreement in place that allows a pool of roughly 135 off-duty police officers to patrol Navy Pier. Most of them have been in uniform. Occasionally, they work in civilian clothes.

They are “classified as McPier” employees, but are not authorized to wear their uniforms at McCormick Place.

On Tuesday, the City Council’s Committee on Public Safety signed off on a new and expanded agreement that will lift that restriction and dramatically improve McCormick Place security.

It will create a similar pool of 135 moonlighting officers—maybe more — to patrol the entire McCormick Place campus. That includes the new basketball arena for DePaul University that will double as an “event center” for McCormick Place.

Some of the officers will be paid $30-an-hour to work directly for McCormick Place. Others will be hired for the conventions and trade shows that fill the McCormick Place complex.

Mike Merchant, the former Chicago Housing Authority chief now serving as McPier’s director of intergovernmental affairs, said it’s a direct response to security concerns triggered by the wave of terrorist attacks around the world.

“There has been growing concern with security … given the environment that we live in … in terms of attacks and things that have happened in Brussels or things that have happened in France and, quite frankly, things that have happened in Orlando now,” Merchant said.

“Some of the largest convention shows have raised concerns about having a presence — an armed security force. … They asked us if there was something we could do to engage the Chicago Police Department to be present at some of these shows.

They’re willing to pay these officers for their service. … At our direction, the shows will able to hire them. We’re looking to have multi-layered options for them to have security maybe roaming the floor, maybe canine units. This will offer a host of options.

They will pay us and we will pay the police officers. Given that the campus is expanding, there will be times when we’ll have to hire officers as well.”

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OAK PARK, Mich. (WJBK) - For the second time in a year, a clerk in the city of Oak Park is charged with embezzling taxpayer money.

The first time an Oak Park official stole from the city, the hustle ran for two years, but the second official accused of trying her luck wasn’t lucky at all. Officials say they foiled her caper in less than 24 hours.

“We instituted a whole variety of layers and additions of security,” said Erik Tungate, Oak Park city manager. “As a result of that, we just recently now identified what I would define as a counterfeiting operation.”

According to police, the culprit in this case is Shemikia Latoya-Renee Terry, a clerk in Oak Park’s Treasury Department.

Tungate says Terry was hired just before Stephanie Sumner was caught chiseling taxpayers out of more than $400,000. She funneled the dough to her husband, Michael, by sending real checks to phony companies. The felonious couple recently copped to embezzlement charges.

But Tungate says Terry was apparently not keeping up with current events because the city was, as a result, now keeping close tabs.

“The issue was caught the day after it happened. and we’re dealing with it now,” Tungate said.

Tungate says Terry was responsible for depositing cash that residents pay the city for all kinds of services.

“The water department, recreation, the library, you name it,” he said.

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Starting July 5, visitors to Buffalo City Hall can expect to have to go through airport-style metal detectors and X-ray screening devices.

Common Council members Tuesday gave preliminary support to a beefed-up security plan that is expected to be approved next week and then begin operating right after the Independence Day holiday.

Under the plan, all visitors will go through metal detectors, and all bags will go through X-ray screening.

Visitors will not be required to show identification to enter the building, police said.

City Hall employees, on the other hand, will not be required to go through the screening as long as they have their City Hall identification with them.

Also, as part of the beefed-up security, there will be additional security cameras and a private security firm working in City Hall.

The private firm, G4S Security, will replace some, but not all, of the Buffalo police officers currently assigned to City Hall.

Under a $650,000 annual contract the Common Council is expected to approve at its June 7 meeting, security guards will be operating the screening equipment at the front and rear entrances to City Hall.

The screening will look for both guns and explosives, according to Buffalo police.

If an individual has a permit to carry a gun, the weapon will be kept at a security booth and returned when the person leaves City Hall, police said.

The Brown administration has said that City Hall is vulnerable to a breach in security, and most Council members agree.

During a discussion on the G4S contract Tuesday, Buffalo Police Lt. Jeffrey Rinaldo told members of the Council’s Finance Committee that G4S security guards assigned to City Hall will be either current or retired law-enforcement officers or retired military. The G4S guards will carry guns, but they will not have police powers. If an incident occurs in City Hall, the guards would immediately contact Buffalo Police.

Buffalo police officers currently assigned to the Mayor’s Office, the Common Council, the city treasury and Traffic Violations Bureau, as well as a police Internal Affairs substation, will continue working in City Hall, Rinaldo said.

But in a cost-saving move, the security guards will replace other officers who have been assigned to City Hall since the fall, when world events convinced the Brown administration to speed up plans to beef up security in the building.

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