Metro

Plan to remove metal detectors has school cops fearing for kids’ safety

The city’s plan to remove metal detectors from some of the 80 schools that use the devices has run into fierce opposition from the union that represents school safety officers, The Post has learned.

Gregory Floyd, president of Teamsters Local 237, said he warned city officials to expect a spike in violence if the detectors are yanked, but was told they were going ahead with the plan.

“Removing metal detectors would lead to children bringing weapons into schools because you would have no way of detecting weapons,” Floyd said on Wednesday.

“When a child gets shot, do you tell the parents we didn’t want metal detectors because we didn’t want it to feel like prison?”

A report issued in July by a panel convened by Mayor de Blasio recommended that the Department of Education and the NYPD create guidelines to start removing the detectors.

“Because some students see metal detectors at schools as intrusive and denigrating, schools should ensure the scanning process is as minimally intrusive as possible,” the report said.

A new law also requires the Department of Education to submit quarterly reports on the detectors and to specify whether school requests to remove them have been honored.

Schools spokeswoman Devora Kaye wouldn’t say when the first devices would be pulled or identify the schools that would lose them.

The removal of metal detectors would come at a precarious time, according to Floyd, who said the curtailment of stop-and-frisk and recent cop killings have emboldened more people to carry weapons.

“There’s a perception in New York City that you can walk around with a weapon and won’t get searched,” he said.

When he shared his concerns with the de Blasio administration last month, he said a high-ranking official argued that school safety officers “are too aggressive.” The official also hinted that the John Jay Educational Center in Brooklyn was one of the schools that would be affected.

That same day — Sept. 21 — a John Jay student allegedly stabbed another student outside Barclays Center.

According to Floyd’s union, at least 64 weapons have been recovered by school safety agents since July.

During the 2013-2014 academic year, the NYPD reported that 1,200 firearms, knives, boxcutters and other weapons were confiscated at schools.