School safety, security, and violence prevention resource

One of the biggest expenses that schools have to deal with in relation to implementing safety measures is their team of school safety officers. Whether or not they are 100 percent effective, we cannot deny the fact that they provide a certain sense of security to everyone involved. When we know that there are security or safety officers around, it usually is enough to make us feel all right.

But what if school safety officers do not tell the truth? What if they have a lapse in judgment? What if they purposely do things that may not be in the interest of school safety?

School safety officers have also been the target of many criticisms. We know that they are only human and they make mistakes, so I think that in this regard, they are sometimes seen in an unfair light. What happened over at Lawrence High is quite disturbing, however.

According to a story written by Jill Harmacinski, two school safety officers at Lawrence High purposely misled the police regarding an investigation that they were carrying out on underage drinking. What happened was that there was an event in the school cafeteria. Some high school girls were drinking rum out of a bottle of apple juice. It wouldn’t have been obvious except that after the event, a 16-year-old girl ended up vomiting and unable to walk. She was taken away in an ambulance, prompting the investigation.

So where do the school safety officers come in? They told the police, in the course of the investigation, that the cameras in the cafeteria were not working. In fact, they went as far as to say that all the cameras in that area were malfunctioning. Hence, there was no footage of the alleged drinking available. It does not take a rocket scientist to see how vital this piece of footage is to the investigation. Without it, the police is without a solid piece of evidence.

Unfortunately for the school safety officers, the police officer who interviewed them reported the “dead zone” to his superior, who then talked with the school safety officers again. They stuck to their story – I don’t really see why. Upon speaking with Kevin Clement, the school’s security director, however, the police found out that the cameras were in fact working and that the tape was rolling when the incident occurred.

So what happens now? The school is dealing with the two safety officers. As for the rest of us, it is a stark reminder that nothing, no one is perfect. I think that it just means that we have to continue working towards school safety and not leaving all the responsibility up to a certain group of people.

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