— In Texas, the Texas Court of Appeals reversed a lower court ruling that suppressed a class room audio recording of illegal conduct by a school resource officer. The SRO “was on duty at (the) Middle School when he and (the) vice principal … ordered students out of a classroom to search for suspected contraband, a vape pen, in the students’ belongings. A student left behind her cellphone with the recording function turned on, capturing audio of (their) conversation during the search. The recording (indicated they) located the vape pen in a cabinet and discussed placing it in a particular student’s backpack without evidence of whom it belonged to.” The SRO was arrested for “intentionally subjecting three students to searches he knew were unlawful and for planting evidence.” The officer filed a motion to suppress the audio recording, “arguing that it was obtained in violation of (the state wiretap statute) and his constitutional rights because neither (the SRO nor the school administrator) consented to being recorded by a third party.” The trial court suppressed the audio recording. The appellate court reversed. The reversal was based on clearly established law that the SRO has a “diminished expectation of privacy … because (they occupy) a position of public trust and exercises special powers.” The appellate court went on the state that, “the audio recording was made by a student who was a private citizen. There is no allegation that this student was acting on behalf of law enforcement or doing anything other than acting in a private capacity. Accordingly, (the SRO’s) Fourth Amendment rights were not violated.” The resolution of the Fourth Amendment defense also resolved the statutory argument of the SRO because the wiretap statute “incorporates the Fourth Amendment’s legitimate-expectation-of-privacy standard.” The case was remanded back to trial. State v. Gonzalez
— In Kentucky, officials in the Bullitt County Public Schools are creating an in-house school police department. They are hiring a chief of police to command the school resource officers currently deployed to its schools. The goal is to tailor (the SRO job) to a specific type of officer … looking for the opportunity to be in schools, build relationships with students and help us make sure that we’re keeping our students and community safe.”
— In Georgia, the “Barrow County Sheriff’s Office, Board of Commissioners and Board of Education reached a new agreement for security services for the school district. Additional school resource officers will be deployed, from 12 to 25. The agreement also “more clearly outlines each of the three parties’ responsibilities.”
— In Texas, the “Texas Education Agency released its annual audit report on school safety and security in Texas…Around 90% of the school districts and campuses in Texas had no issues with the initial phases of security preparedness, according to the report.”