Safety Law News for August 15, 2017

  • In Texas, officials in Gregg County ponder responses to data on the increase of methamphetamine use and addiction.  School resource officers used as educators and mentors are the primary tool being considered to help deter students from the use of drugs.

Safety Law News for August 9, 2017

  • In South Carolina, the school resource officers in Spartanburg are learning more about autism spectrum disorders, how to best communicate with students with autism and what tone and instructions work best for those students.

Safety Law News for August 4, 2017

  • In a national study on safe schools, each state was ranked based on numerous factors.  The states with the lowest percentage of injured and threatened students were Massachusetts, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Oklahoma.  The jurisdictions with the lowest incidence of bullied students were the District of Columbia, Florida, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and Delaware.
  • In New York, the Jamestown City Council approved the additional school resource officer to have a total of three.  The school district will be providing the funding for all three school resource officers.

Safety Law News for August 2, 2017

  • In Wisconsin, the Madison School Board’s ad-hoc committee on Educational Resource Officers (EROs) is one-third of the way through its mandate process to make recommendations about the use of police in schools. So far, they have examined the role of EROs, racial discipline disparities and what happens if police are removed from the schools.

Safety Law News for July 28, 2017

  • In Illinois, the Elgin City Council is moving ahead with the renewal of the SRO program.  The sense in the community is that the SROs “working in our schools bring comfort to our students.”
  • In Ohio, the Ohio Court of Appeals ruled that a 13-year old seventh grader was in custody when he was questioned by an educator in the presence of a team of school resource officers during a campus lock-down in response to a bomb threat.  The court found that the educator was acting as an agent of the police during the investigation and should have given Miranda warnings to the student. [In Re L.G.].
  • In Louisiana, the Court of Appeal of Louisiana upheld a search of a student by an educator.  The teacher observed what he believed to be a hand-to-hand transaction between two students, one of whom was known to have issues with marijuana. The teacher asked the student to remove what he placed into his pocket and discovered marijuana. [State in Interest of K.L.]

Safety Law News for July 21, 2017

  • In Missouri, the Missouri court of Appeals ruled that the pat-down search of a student, pursuant to school policy authorizing searches of all students who arrive at school more than 30 minutes late, was unreasonable and thus unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment. [State v. Williams].
  • In New Jersey, officials in Barnegat Township are taking advantage of a state law in which retired law enforcement personnel can work in public schools as Class III officers. A new township ordinance authorizes the move.  The new officers will supplement, not replace, school resource officers already in the schools.
  • In North Carolina, the Dalton Public Schools is implementing a random student drug-testing program this school year for all grade 6-12 students who participate in any extracurricular activities or receive a parking permit.  A committee of educators, school social workers, counselors, school nurses, school resource officers and the Northwest Georgia Healthcare Partnership worked together to develop the district’s random drug-testing plan.