VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Author's note: The video above is on file from Nov. 23, 2021.
Virginia Beach City Public Schools (VBCPS) and the city's police department are working together to make sure students don't bring guns to after-school sporting events.
“We are not trying to play gotcha," said Superintendent Dr. Aaron Spence. "We want to remind people that those aren’t appropriate in our parking lots and on our property.”
Spence said a sweep is simply officers keeping eyes on the cars.
“I think this is more just walking through and making sure we don’t see anything we need to have addressed, and that is our police department doing that, not our staff," Spence said.
Virginia Beach Police said they could see all the guns they’ve taken in plain view, from outside the cars.
The announcement of the joint effort on Jan. 3 followed a period where a concerning amount of guns were found at Hampton Roads schools.
In the last year, there were two shootings in Newport News, at Menchville High School and Heritage High School.
In Virginia Beach, a 14-year-old student getting off a bus at Kellam High School in October was arrested for having a handgun.
And back in September, after getting a tip about a conflict between two groups, Virginia Beach officers seized nine weapons in the parking lot of Salem High School during a football game.
Following that, police said an early search through their records shows officers found five more guns in cars at different sporting events.
In the announcement, VBPD and VBCPS said they would be sure to monitor school parking lots on game nights.
Spence said the city's children need the community to stand together in order to feel safe. Police Chief Paul Neudigate added that having guns on school property would come with consequences.
"We want to send a message to the community that bringing firearms to school events will not be tolerated and can result in serious legal consequences," Neudigate wrote.