– In Florida, the District Court of Appeal of Florida, reversed the denial of a petition for a risk protection order requested by a school resource officer who stopped a student in possession of a firearm on school grounds. Inexplicably, the lower court denied the petition despite the facts that a search of the student’s backpack revealed a Glock 42 .380 caliber handgun, a loaded magazine, and two boxes of ammunition. The appellate court reversed, ruling that after the 2018 shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the legislature enacted a mandatory policy to “address the crisis of gun violence, “by providing law enforcement and the courts with the tools to enhance public safety by temporarily restricting firearm possession …when there is evidence of a threat of violence, and by promoting school safety and enhanced coordination between education and law enforcement entities.” The appellate court held that under the provisions of the statute, “a court should not wait for either threats of or actual violence” (when) “presented with a student who had a pending aggravated assault prosecution, who appeared at a location where he knew weapons were prohibited, and who was armed with a handgun and enough ammunition to conduct a mass shooting.” Polk County Sheriff’s Office. v. T.J.B.
— In Tennessee, new policies on training require that school officers go through active shooter training before they can protect schools. Under House Bill 322, “every licensed armed security guard who provides security or patrol services in a public school, public charter school, private school, or church-related school” must have at least eight hours of active shooter training. Aspects of the training will equip the officers on “how to look for (a) suspect, how to safely search rooms, (and) when they encounter a suspect, (how) to neutralize them if (the) suspect didn’t give up.”
— In Oregon, the Beaverton School Board has unanimously approved a plan to extend the presence of police officers in its schools and assume increasing responsibility for paying for the program.
— In Kentucky, the Clark County Sheriffs’ Office is supplying a life-saving device to all patrol units and school resource officers. The device, called a “De-choker,” is designed to clear blocked airways quickly. The decision to use them “came after a deputy experienced a choking incident that came close to being fatal.”