— In California, the Court of Appeal, Fifth District, ruled that a law enforcement officer violated the rights of a student by conducting a search of his person while detaining the youth on campus for smelling strongly of marijuana. The jurisdiction argued at trial that the search was not based on reasonable suspicion but rather “ “common practice and procedure,” just in case the minor possessed a knife.” On appeal, the jurisdiction recanted this position and argued that the officer possessed reasonable suspicion. The court ruled that the new position was not allowed on appeal. Therefore, because there were no articulable facts on the record from which a rational inference of suspicion could be drawn the weapon discovered in the search would be suppressed. THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff & Appellant, v. JESUS R.
— In Wyoming, a student showed another student a firearm at Kelly Walsh High School in Casper and a Casper PD School Resource Officer was notified immediately and able to quickly and safely bring the student that showed the gun into custody. The community is documenting the incident as “a stark reminder about the role School Resource Officers serve and how important they are for the community.”
— In Maryland, school officials in Montgomery County are emphasizing their desire to keep their school resource officer programs. In October, all high school principals and the leaders of three special schools told the school board they support keeping school resource officers. In December, the Montgomery County Association of Administrators and Principals penned a letter to the school board urging it to continue the program. They say, “[t]he School Resource Officer Program in Montgomery County has greatly benefited the school system… We need SROs in our schools.”
— In Illinois, Senate Amendment #2 to HB 163 seeks to reform the role of law enforcement in the state. The legislation eliminates qualified immunity for police officers, defunds municipalities by as much as 40% percent, revises physicality rules by totally prohibiting chokeholds, and mandates body cameras for all police departments.