School Safety Law Blog – Page 113 – News and Information for School Safety

Safety Law News 4/11/14

by Bernie James • April 11, 2014

Firearms training for Spokane, Washington Public Schools’ resource officers is not enough. The 14 commissioned school resource officers who are certified and trained by the Spokane Police Department will be required to become Spokane Police Department reserve officers, too.

Florida Senate Bill 968 has died in committee. The legislation that would have allowed school superintendents or principals to appoint staff or volunteers to carry concealed weapons on campuses is dead.

A Richland County, South Carolina school resource officer expanded his mentorship role in the area schools by creating and providing leadership for the student-sponsored school district chess club.

Thanks to a grant from the North Carolina General Assembly, all of Rowan-Salisbury’s middle schools have a school resource officer again. The $7 million grant provides funding for school resource officers in elementary and middle schools throughout the state.

by Bernie James • April 7, 2014

Colquitt County, Georgia educators and law enforcement conduct campus sweeps for drugs several times each school year, using dogs to check out lockers and cars at the schools.

Baltimore County, Maryland officials unveiled a $3.7 million in school security system, including a “OneView” camera system that will make security footage available in real time to county police as well as to the county schools’ Department of School Safety and Security.

School resource officers in Fairfax County, Virginia are now receiving suicide awareness and intervention training. The goal is to improve inter-agency collaboration with school officials, social workers, and counselors as they identify kids in crisis and provide them with meaningful intervention.

A federal court panel rules that a school resource officer who used chemical spray on a high school student a second time, when she was allegedly incapacitated, non-resistant, and writhing in pain on the ground, was not entitled to qualified immunity against a claim of unreasonable force, even if the first use of chemical spray was reasonable due to the student’s resistance. [J.W. ex rel. Williams v. Roper].

by Bernie James • March 31, 2014

A school resource officer in Jonesboro, Georgia discovers a loaded handgun while assisting educators in enforcing the code of conduct. The chief of police says simply, “Officer did what he was trained to do.”

U.S. Department of Justice complaint brought by Legal Aid North Carolina against the Wake County, North Carolina school system alleges that school resource officers target black and disabled students.

School and town leaders in Newtown, Connecticut have forged a partnership for a new school security model that will provide a combination of 18 armed and unarmed security guards for the seven district schools. New SROs in Milford, Connecticut are being received positively by the community.

The Indiana Supreme Court upheld the conviction of a high school principal for failing to comply with state law that requires school officials to immediately report instances of suspected child abuse occurring within their institutions to the Department of Child Services or law enforcement. The victimized student told the educator that she had been raped by a fellow student, and he did not notify the police or the Department of Child Services for four hours.

by Bernie James • March 27, 2014

Resource officers from several local law enforcement agencies in Ottawa County, Oklahoma are collaborating to address the issue of child abduction by holding educational assemblies for elementary and middle school students.

The West Virginia Legislature has approved two separate prices of legislation that, if enacted, will authorize police officers to carry weapons on campus.

Juvenile justice agencies in Richmond, California from the juvenile probation department, detectives from the juvenile division and school resource officers collaborate every month to make sure teens who have been in trouble with the law are staying out of trouble.

School resource officers in Utah’s Granite School District have obtained surplus military rifles from the U.S. Department of Defense. The military-grade AR-15s, were obtained through what’s known as the 1033 program, which distributes surplus military weapons and other equipment to law enforcement agencies across the country.

by Bernie James • March 24, 2014

An improved relationship between Oak Ridge, Tennessee police and school officials as well as the hiring of a veteran officer as the second SRO in the high school were credited with helping decrease incidents on campus.

Students in Middletown, Connecticut say that SROs in the schools make them all safer although some are hesitant to approach the officers with questions or concerns.

School officials and SROs in Delaware say huddling in classrooms no longer best plan during dangerous situations. They now instruct teachers to lead students outside as soon as possible.

Law enforcement officers for Utah’s Granite School District are now carrying AR-15 assault rifles.

Skyview High School in Boise, Idaho is the first school in the country to implement a wireless, location-based alarm system. The new campus safety system requires school staff to wear wireless security badges capable of communicating directly with law enforcement as incidents occur.

by Bernie James • March 17, 2014

The American Civil Liberties Union is calling on the Texas Education Agency to ban the use of Tasers by school resource officers.

The FBI has opened an investigation about unreasonable use of force involving Tasers after a Cedar Creek, Texas student was tased by a school resource officer in 2013.

Official in Kennebec County, Maine have developed a school resource deputy program for rural schools at a time when most rural communities don’t have their own police departments and don’t have a dedicated school resource officer.

Greeley, Colorado school resource officers go beyond enforcement, instead they embrace mentoring and “preventive justice.”