PHOENIX (AP) - Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio says he plans to deploy his armed volunteer posse to protect Phoenix-area schools from the kind of attacks that left 20 students and six educators dead in Connecticut on Dec. 14.

Arpaio tells KTVK-TV he has the authority to mobilize private citizens to fight crime in Maricopa County but hasn't talked to specific districts. He says he doesn't plan to put posse volunteers inside schools but will have them posted on school perimeters.

The plan the sheriff announced Thursday comes a day after two other politicians announced their ideas for beefing up Arizona school security. Attorney General Tom Horne proposed firearms training for one person in each school. Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu proposed training multiple educators per school to carry guns.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.