SAN DIEGO — Bird Rock Elementary has a new set of eyes looking out for the safety of their students.

Parents on Patrol, or POP, have now rallied parent volunteers to take shifts walking the campus and perimeter of the school on the lookout for anything that might pose a threat to students inside.

“We have phone in one hand and we have a radio in the other and all we do with the phone is we dial 9-1-1 if we see applicable trouble, and with the radio, we use that communicate to the faculty, staff,” said Todd Marchner, a parent volunteer who takes a shift walking the campus in the name of safety.

The group was founded in the wake of the recent shooting in Nashville, Tennessee.

“It was just very overwhelming, I felt very upset and I wanted to do something about it,” said Marchner.

Gun violence has now overtaken car accidents as the leading cause for childhood death, according to the Center for Disease Control. Parents at Bird Rock Elementary say they’ve always wanted to shield their kids from the idea of violence, but feel they have no other choice but to discuss the new reality of gun violence in America.

“For the most part, I feel safe. I like that there’s the extra measures that the campus is secured. Yeah, it is a different world we live in. We didn’t have active shooter drills when we were kids. It kind of blows my mind that we have to think of those things,” said Sharon Jones, a parent at the school.

Twenty volunteers have stepped forward to stand post and another 30 have signed up to help in the near future.

“We can all come together, we can all get a long, we can all be a community, we can all work towards a common goal which is one more layer in security,” said Marchner.  

“I’m going to volunteer tomorrow, and then if I can find another hour in my schedule this week, I will do it because someone has to protect our kids,” another parent said.