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Safety Law News for August 28, 2018

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  • In Michigan,  Midland City Council supported the special millage proposal for school safety that will appear on the Nov. 6 election ballot which would levy up to 0.4 mills — 40 cents per $1,000 of taxable value — raising $1.3 million.  The tax will support funding for a total of seven school resource officers that will be assigned to city and county schools.

 

 

  • In Pennsylvania,  the Woodland Hills School board voted unanimously to renew its SRO program despite vocal disagreement from protesters who believe police are abusing their children.  The Woodland Hills Superintendent stated. “I believe in school resource officers.”  The school board is also planning to amend discipline policy to emphasize new roles for the SROs and zero tolerance for students who attack an educator or fellow student.

 

  • In Delaware,  officials in Dover are assigning police officers, called school security monitors, to all of the schools in the Capital School District.  The school superintendent said, “Safety is really our primary concern.  It’s not our primary job, but it’s our primary responsibility.”  The whole program will cost $408,423 for the first year.
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Safety Law News for August 24, 2018

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  • In Georgia,  the Georgia Supreme Court held that Miranda warnings were not required when a juvenile, questioned in the principal’s office in front of the administrator, police, and a parent, admitted that he assaulted another student.  The court reasoned that the juvenile was not in custody.  And the court held that even when in custody Miranda does not apply when a person is encouraged to tell what they know by a parent. (State v. Daniell)

 

  • Nationally, a new study by The 74, an education research and advocacy organization, reports that legislators in at least 26 states have poured at least $950 million into school safety programs so far in 2018.  Most of the money was spent on security upgrades and school resource officers.  The study states that the increased funding represents a policy shift from reactions to past mass school shootings.

 

  • In North Dakota, state officials launched a statewide anonymous campus safety platform that will allow individuals to report suspicious behavior, threats and violence in every school via text messaging.  The school safety platform can be reached by texting “SAFE” to 82257 and drug crimes can be reported by texting “DRUGS” to 82257.

 

  • Nationally,  a Report by the Educator’s School Safety Network found that in the 2017-2018 school year, 11 states of most concern accounted for 36% of all threats and 42% of all incidents.  Nationally, there were at least 3,375 threats recorded, a 62% increase from the 2016-2017 school year. In the 2017-2018 school year, there were at least 279 incidents of violence, an increase of 113% from the 2016-2017 school year.
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Safety Law News for August 22, 2018

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  • In Illinois, officials in DuPage County are concerned about the proximity of the St. John Vianney Villa in Naperville, located next door to the junior high. The church facility serves as a retirement home for 13 Catholic priests, including two priests who have faced sex abuse allegations.  Additional police officers will be at the school during arrival and drop-off times.

 

 

  • In Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Department of Justice has released a new research study on sex crimes.  According to the Report, teenagers represent the highest number of sex crime victims.  The Report also found that 38 percent of sex crime offenders were ages 15 to 22.  Officials are sharing the information with school resource officers, encouraging SROs to “reach out to some of the kids.”

 

  • In Maryland, officials from Anne Arundel County continue to debate the best model for maintaining safe schools.  The elements of the debate involve which resources to emphasize; counselors, hardware upgrades, and school-based law enforcement.
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Safety Law News for August 17, 2019

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  • In Virginia, Fairfax County Public Schools has revised its School Resource Officer Program. The new program establishes a clear division between the SROs’ role and the school administration’s role. It adds mandatory training for SROs on implicit bias, disability awareness and cultural competency, and ensures parents are contacted prior to student searches and interrogations.

 

 

  • In Maryland, officials from the St. Mary’s County Schools shared their account of the March 2018 shooting at Great Mills High School.  Their experiences translated into recommendations for essential policies every school should have. St. Mary’s officials stressed the importance of planning far in advance for a potential school shooting, having a plan for where they will reunite the families of surviving students after a shooting, and planning for how to foster healing after students’ and teachers’ sense of security has been shattered.

 

  • In Texas, the Senate Select Committee on Violence in Schools and School Security released its full report with four recommendations to the Legislature for the upcoming session.   Included in the recommendations: improving the infrastructure and design of Texas schools, improving school security training programs, improving assessment of risk factors and protective factors that can lead to mass campus shootings, and improving strategies to identify and intercept high-risk students.
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Safety Law News for August 14, 2018

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  • In Florida, officials in Escambia County are implementing new safety and security policies that include the use of metal detectors, additional resource officers, and a new policy banning parents of elementary school students from continuing to walk their children to class.  Parents of elementary school students will only be allowed to walk their students to class the first three days of school.

 

 

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Safety Law News August 9, 2018

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  • In Ohio, officials in the Lima City Schools announced Wednesday the implementation of a K-9 program during the upcoming school year.  The dogs will be used to find narcotics and gunpowder in the schools and they’ll also act as therapy dogs, helping calm stressed students and children in special education programs. They will also act as a gateway for students who can interact with the dog while becoming comfortable interacting with the SROs.

 

 

 

  • In Florida, the Sheriff’s Office in Orange County has committed $168,000 for heavy-duty body armor and helmets. The goal is to provide protection for police officers in an active shooter situation.

 

  • In Louisiana, educators in the St. Tammany Parish Public Schools are planning to implement a new cellphone policy with progressive consequences for students who violate its provisions.  Under the policy, cell phones can be used only in case of emergency, which the board has defined “as an actual or imminent threat to public health or safety which may result in loss of life or injury.”