Nomination for Hero Badge

I have pointed out, in the past, that some police officers can fuck up a box of rocks with a rubber mallet. What sets police officers apart is the imaginative and creative ways they go about that task. This officer managed to score in two categories: “Girls With Guns” and “Nomination For a Hero Badge.” 

A particular problem that school resource officers face is that they don’t know when to leave well enough alone. Police officers by their nature are problem solvers. Depending on the circumstances this can be good or bad. Some officers get sucked into situations where they have no business getting involved. When you put them in an environment where the person actually responsible for handling a situation declines to do so, the dumb officers step forward. Nothing good can happen from that point forward.

Schools have rules and policies that have nothing to do with the law. Police officers enforce the law and keep the peace. Our hero, in this incident was called to a classroom. A sleeping Junior would not respond to attempts by the teacher and acting principal to wake him. This is not a law enforcement problem. The officer should not have involved herself, other than by standing by to prevent a breach of the peace.

I suspect the officer was directed to take some kind of action by the acting principal. The officer deployed her Taser and activated it. She did not shock the student but it makes a distinctive sound as the electricity arcs from probe to probe. That action got his attention. The officer was successful in waking the student. But the acting principal was unhappy with the officer’s solution and  promptly snitched her off to the Chief of Police. Using a Taser in that manner violates policy.

Lesson number one never, ever trust a bureaucrat from the education establishment. Second, if it isn’t a criminal violation or breach of the peace, it’s none of your business. Third, remember these words: “It sucks to be you.” Repeat them as often as necessary. The educrats problem isn’t necessarily a police problem.

To illustrate the problem, a number of years ago, I was given the task of teaching a class to a group of gang investigators assigned to the task force. Since a lot of the gang activity was centered in high schools, the thought was that these investigators should be versed in operating in a school environment. I was given a prototype curriculum developed by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) for school resource officers.

Texas law is pretty clear, the Texas Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure controls when it comes to defining terms or resolving conflicts with other codes. This model curriculum for police officers contained no references to the Penal Code or Code of Criminal Procedure. It advocated actions that might permissible in an administrative action, suspensions, detention, and assignment to alternative schools. However, adherence to these guidelines by police officers would not work.  The only criminal prosecution available would be against the officers, for violating the student’s civil rights.

It was a more innocent time, I guess. The use of force guidelines in the model curriculum, prohibited the police officers use of deadly force. This included “active shooter” situations. 

I amended the curriculum to remove the obvious conflicts and point out the authorities contained in the Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure. I never had to teach that class again.