— In Texas, the United States District Court dismissed a lawsuit brought by a parent who was arrested for failing to comply with school policy on student drop-offs. The incident occurred when a school resource officer (SRO) enforced the policy of the school of “closing the main drop-off point for students and requiring parents (who) were running behind … to take their children to the school’s front entrance.” One parent, arriving late, refused to comply when the SRO “raised her left hand up with her palm towards (the parent) and signaled with her index finger for (the parent) to make a ‘U’ motion … to turn around.” The conflict quickly escalated when the parent continued to drive forward into the SRO, “causing the vehicle’s bumper guard to strike her left breast.” The SRO eventually forced the stoppage of the vehicle, and with assistance from backup police and fire department officials, arrested the parent. The court applied the law that a “police officer must have reasonable suspicion to justify (an) investigative stop, which requires the police officer to point to specific and articulable facts which, taken together with rational inferences from those facts, reasonably warrant that intrusion… “arrests are ‘seizures’ of ‘persons’ ” and, therefore, must be reasonable under the circumstances” to comply with the Fourth Amendment … A warrantless arrest is reasonable if the officer has ‘probable cause to believe that a criminal offense has been committed.” The court dismissed with prejudice the claims of the parent, concluding that the SRO “did not violate (the parent’s) Fourth Amendment rights because (the SRO) had reasonable suspicion to temporarily detain (the parent) for violating the Texas Transportation Code, and probable cause to arrest her for felony aggravated assault on a public servant, as well as for violating the Texas Transportation Code.” Lambert v. City of Onalaska, Texas, No. 9:23-CV-00067-MJT-CLS, 2025 WL 2369403 (E.D. Tex. June 9, 2025), report and recommendation adopted, No. 9:23-CV-00067-MJT, 2025 WL 2028086 (E.D. Tex. July 18, 2025)
— In West Virginia, the Kanawha County Schools are installing a school mapping system, designed to “standardize all schools floor plans, show access points, and emergency equipment to all emergency management services. Officials believe that “it will enhance first responders’ situational awareness and improve response times during an emergency.”
— In New York, “the New York City Police Department is transferring oversight of its 3,600 school safety agents from the Community Affairs Bureau to the office of Chief of Department.” It is “a move that comes as the department’s commissioner pushes for stricter repercussions for some teens convicted of serious crimes.”
— In Florida, school districts in the state are implementing drone technology to assist responders to school shootings. “The drones, stored in secure boxes on campus, can be deployed within five seconds of silent panic buttons being activated. The devices—operated remotely by a team in Texas—provide constant live video feeds to first responders and, in some cases, fire nonlethal projectiles to delay or incapacitate an assailant.” The Leon County Schools District Security Center in Tallahassee and the AcadeMir Preparatory High School in Miami-Dade County are involved in the pilot project to fine-tune the resource for use in state schools.