Safety Law News for 2/25/14

  • The U.S. Justice Department has released “Juvenile Arrests 2011.” The report analyzes data in the United States to characterize the extent and nature of juvenile crime. Among other findings, the bulletin reports that juvenile arrests in 2011 decreased 11 percent and juvenile violent crime arrests decreased 10 percent over 2010.

Safety Law News for 2/20/14

  •  The introduction in the Arizona legislature of House Bill 2412, which would legalize armed teachers in schools, is not getting much support from local school administrators.
  •  Off-duty police officers in Stow, Ohio are given authority to carry firearms to provide an extra layer of security in public schools at no additional cost.
  •  Supreme Court of Nebraska rules that a high school student’s driving to school and parking off school grounds was not a “school-sponsored event” and therefore, a search by assistant principal of student’s truck parked across street from high school was unreasonable under Fourth Amendment. [A.P. v Millard Public Schools].

Safety Law News for 2/17/14

  • The Argyle Independent School District in Texas, is implementing the new School Marshal program created as a result of the passage of House Bill 1009 Protection of Texas Children Act. The program certifies school marshals and expands law enforcement in schools.
  •  The Pinellas County, Florida School Board has entered into an agreement with the county sheriff’s office on new school discipline rules.  Under the new rules students who violate the student conduct code will be punished by the school administration and minor crimes will not result in an arrest if it’s the student’s first incident.

Safety Law News for 2/13/14

  • Court upholds discipline of a student who broadcasted a string of increasingly violent and threatening instant messages from home to his friends bragging about his weapons, threatening to shoot specific classmates, intimating that he would “take out” other people at a school shooting on a specific date.  [Wynar v. Douglas County School Dist.]

Safety Law News for 2/7/14

  • Municipal officials in Jackson, New Jersey have taken a step toward reinstating the school resource officer program after unanimously approving a resolution that paves the way for a shared services agreement with the Jackson School District.
  • The Paterson, New Jersey school superintendent chose to discontinue the practice of having the retired officers have guns while working in the schools in the fall of 2012. But the district has reconsidered that decision after the Newtown tragedy.

Safety Law News for 2/4/14

  • The Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board has deactivated the certification of the Peoria Public School District’s police force.  As a result, the school resource officers will not be able to exercise police powers.
  • School resource officers in Mississippi are now being trained to be information liaisons with Mississippi Homeland Security.  The purpose of the training is to equip SROs to assess and handle confidential data, and make sure it is shared with appropriate agencies statewide.