by Bernie James • • Comments Off on Safety Law News for August 7, 2018
In Ohio, House Bill 318 has become law. The new law defines and codify the role and requirements of school resource officers in Ohio. The law requires at least forty hours of school resource officer training by either NASRO (National Association of School Resource Officers) or OSROA (Ohio School Resource Officer Association). That training must review school campus design, building security needs and characteristics and teach officers how to identify drug use trends in schools and encourage a drug-free environment.
In Pennsylvania, the United States District Court ruled that a school-based law enforcement officer’s use of force in seizing a student was reasonable as a matter of law. The officer tackled the student when the student attempted to flee the administrative office without being subjected to a pat-down search. The student had a history of making threats, was acting violently, had allegedly planned a knife attack, and was reasonably believed to still be in possession of a knife. (Salyer v. Hollidaysburg Area School District).
In North Carolina, the North Carolina Court of Appeals reversed and vacated a juvenile’s adjudication and disposition for disorderly conduct for throwing a chair in the school cafeteria. The court ruled that throwing a single chair with no other person nearby and without attempting to hit another person and without hitting even any other item in the cafeteria is not disorderly conduct as defined by North Carolina General Statute § 14-288.4(a)(1). (Matter of T.T.E.).