• In South Carolina, the U.S. District Court ruled that a school resource officer used excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment rights of a student. The officer, called to a classroom when a student refused administrative requests to leave her desk, flipped the student and the desk backwards to effect a take-down maneuver. The court ruled that the severity of the misconduct was minor (disrupting the classroom), the student’s resistance was passive, not posing a threat to the officer or anyone else, and she did not have a weapon. (Shakara Murphy v. Benjamin Fields)
• In Arkansas, the Arkansas Court of Appeals affirmed the delinquency adjudication of a student for having committed the offense of “terroristic threatening.” The student told a classmate that he was a school shooter and that she should wear green on an upcoming school day. The court rejected the defense of the student that the statements were meant to be a joke. (A.J.A. v. State of Arkansas)
• In Florida, officials in Indian River County, experiencing an increase in threats against schools, have posted a video to warn would-be offenders. The video, posted on the school district’s Facebook page, says: “Making a fake threat is considered a felony offense. It doesn’t matter if you’re joking or being sarcastic.”
• In Arkansas, a new law that allows schools to create campus police forces is creating staffing and budgeting uncertainty among local law enforcement agencies. Several districts in the state have been approved to start their own police departments. The officers have jurisdiction on school property and connecting or adjacent land, such as sidewalks and alleyways.