CASTLE ROCK, Colo. – Douglas County School District director of security Richard Payne is getting serious about protecting students from armed intruders.

Payne ordered 10 high powered rifles in January – a $12,000 expense – to better equip his staff in the event of an armed gunman on campus or other school emergency. Payne said the Bushmaster rifles will be stored locked inside of patrol vehicles and will only be used in serious situations, the Denver Post reports.

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Payne told the news site he realized the need for something more than handguns, which are currently used by eight of the district’s 64 officers, during twice-yearly training sessions with local police.

“We want to make sure they have the same tools as law enforcement,” he said.

School security officers must first undergo the same 20-hour training course as commissioned police officers before they will be authorized to use the rifles, he told the Post.

District department heads are authorized to spend up to $75,000 without school board approval. Board member Wendy Vogel told KUSA the rifle purchase came as a surprise, and Payne should have at least alerted the board about his decision.

“I think this is a really controversial issue. I think this is causing a lot of people to really question why we would make such a purchase,” she said. “And I think to at least have the knowledge ahead of time that it was coming rather than getting a phone call from a reporter saying this is what’s happening, what do you know about it?”

Payne said about half of the rifles should be in use in about a month, once officers finish the required training, and the rest will come in August.

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“I hope we never have to deploy them,” he said.

“One of my officers on patrol may be the first officer at the school. I want to make sure… if he is the first officer there, that he is prepared and has all the right tools he needs to keep everyone safe and secure,” Payne told ABC 7.

School board president Meghann Silverthorn said the district has discussed ways to improve school security since last year, and she supports the purchase.

“If someone is coming at our kids with deadly force then it should be met with the same deadly force,” she said.

Douglas County Sheriff’s Sgt. Lori Bronner, who oversees school resource officers working in district schools, described the move as “another way for the Douglas County Sheriff’s office and the Douglas County School District to keep the community safe.”

Several parents who spoke with KUSA had a variety of reactions to the gun buy.

“I don’t think that it’s overboard, sadly,” Greg Gravitt said.

Allie Gravitt agreed the move is “not necessarily uncalled for.”

Parent Tracy Burns, meanwhile, thinks “handguns would be sufficient.

“Rifles probably just a little too much,” she told KUSA.