— In Virginia, the United States Court of Appeals upheld the conviction on multiple counts of an adult who was arrested on school grounds by a school resource officer. A school administrator reported that “a sleeping or unconscious unidentified man (who was plainly a non-student) was parked erratically in the school parking lot.” The court ruled that under the search and seizure rules of the Fourth Amendment, “an officer may stop and briefly detain a person when the officer has reasonable, articulable suspicion that the person has been, is, or is about to be engaged in criminal activity.” The court concluded that, reasonable suspicion for the parking lot investigatory stop existed, “because a reasonable officer could suspect that Coleman was trespassing on school grounds, in violation of the school board policy…(and) circumstances of (the adult’s) presence on the school campus suggested other illegal activity.” United States v. Coleman
— In Indiana, parents in the Monroe County Community School Corporation are asking school officials to allow school resource officers to carry weapons again. The requests follow incidents in the schools in which students were found carrying guns. The school board voted in 2020 to disarm the school resource officers.
— In Nebraska, officials in the Lincoln Public School District released data related to SRO referrals and discipline practices within their schools. Calls for service and referrals dropped about 43% below the four-year average. The school administrators initiated referrals most often. Police officers were in the lowest group to initiate discipline at 1%. Notably, serious incidents, like assaults, narcotics, and disturbances make up a majority of referral data.
— In New Mexico, school officials in the Rio Rancho Public Schools are hosting a gun safety class for parents. The focus of the class is on making sure firearms are secured as a means of keeping guns out of kids’ hands. The class is in response to a 2019 incident in which a student discharged a gun in the high school.