Safety Law News for July 13, 2018

  • In Connecticut, officials in North Haven are expanding the school resource officer program immediately.  The decision comes after hundreds of residents overwhelmingly voted at town meeting to approve an ordinance that would assign an SRO to each building.

 

  • In Pennsylvania, officials from the Plum School District want to establish their own in-school police force.  The school board wants officers with experience working with people, using firearms, and with training on deescalating situations.  The Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas would have to grant permission before the five guards and a supervisor can be hired.

 

  • In Maryland, the United States District Court upheld a claim for gross negligence filed by parents of a student with asthma who died when she was denied access to healthcare at school.  The court ruled that the educators were not just aware of a serious risk to the child, but were faced with a specific, imminent threat to the child’s life, were aware of a specific treatment that would have resolved that threat, but deliberately chose to prevent the child from obtaining that treatment.  (Grant-Walton v. Montgomery County Board of Education).

 

Safety Law News for July 9, 2018

 

  • In Indiana, the Indiana Supreme Court held that during an interview conducted by both a vice principal and a school resource officer, the juvenile, a middle-school student suspected of making a bomb threat, was in police custody for Miranda purposes. (B.A. v. State)

 

  • In Maryland, the Special Court of Appeals held that a state law prohibiting a person from displaying obscene items to minors did apply to a juvenile who sent her friends via a text message a digital video file of herself engaging in sexual conduct.  However, the court ruled that transmission of the video by text message from one mobile phone to two others did not fall within the language of a poorly written statute.  Therefore, the adjudication of the juvenile was vacated.  (In re S.K.)

 

Safety Law News for July 2, 2018

  • In Florida, school resource officers from Lake and Sumter counties are receiving training from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and LifeStream Behavioral Center on how to deal with people with a variety of mental health issues.  The training is based on a model established in Memphis, Tenn., in 1983 that came about when law enforcement officers and mental health providers started working closely together following the shooting of a mentally ill person.

 

  • In Georgia, Senate Bill 149 has been enacted.  Under the law, every officer must receive 40 hours of training on the subjects of search and seizure in elementary and secondary schools, criminal offenses, gang awareness, drug awareness, interviews and interrogations.

 

  • In New Jersey, the scramble is on to find eligible officers to serve as school resource officers.  Beginning in July, state requirements for special officers have tightened up.  Officials are concerned about a potential shortage of candidates equipped to serve as school officers.   Candidates must pass background, medical and psychological tests.

 

  • In Illinois, officials in Danville have completed three intergovernmental agreements between the city and the school district.  Under the MOU, the school resource officers will have access to school security video feed, better communication by radio, and mandated reciprocal reporting of criminal offenses by students.

Safety Law News for June 20, 2018

 

 

  • In Wisconsin, the Green Bay School Board voted unanimously to reject a proposal to put armed guards in its schools.  The preference of the Board is to provide social workers and guidance counselors to help kids before a crisis arises.

 

Safety Law News for June 14, 2018

  • In Indiana, the Portage Township School Board approved a new school safety plan.  The plan will emphasize mental health counseling, monitoring of student electronic devices, expanding the bullying hotline, adoption of restorative justice principles, and replacing full-time police officers with part-time officers.

 

 

 

  • In Nevada, the Washoe County School Board has reaffirmed its opposition to proposals to arm educators in its schools.  The resolution adopted by the Board calls upon state and federal authorities to provide funding for additional school police officers, counselors, psychologists, social workers, firearm safety education programs, and security features in school buildings.

Safety Law News for June 7, 2018

  • In Texas, educators and law enforcement officials in Williamson County have co-signed a public letter calling for an in-house police department for the Round Rock ISD.  The current estimate for establishing the school district police department is $1.08 million for one police chief, four officers and a dispatcher for the 2018-19 school year.
  • In California, school-based law enforcement officers in San Francisco are taking part in a four-day program called Policing the Teen Brain.  The training is designed to help the officers improve relationships with children, de-escalate situations, and avoid the use of force.  The training includes a discussion with a psychologist who explains mental health issues prevalent among teens and how police interactions can be traumatizing.
  • In Kentucky, the school district safety committee in Marshall County has approved new security policies. The measures include walk-through metal detectors at all entrances of the high school and both middle schools, increasing the number of school resource officers from one to five, and prohibiting backpacks at middle and high schools.