Lockdown at Blair?
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Anonymous
+1 If they know that kids are suffering mental health issues from the stress of the past year, it makes more sense to have more security, not less. Sure, hire more mental health professionals, but we also need more security. We can chew gum and walk at the same time, no? For me, my kids' safety is paramount. |
Anonymous
No because they had to call them before especially when the SRO's ran away. |
Anonymous
You can add security guards for that. You can call the police when someone is getting stabbed or someone brings a weapon to school. But having police there proactively just means they will arrest more kids (data show that SRO programs increase arrests most in offenses like "disorderly conduct"). Arresting a bunch of kids for nonviolent offenses will not help their mental health. |
Anonymous
Sure, but they aren't doing that, either. What would the security guard do with a student who is committing "disorderly conduct"? Do they just send them back to class? Send them home, only for them to come back and repeat? How is that helpful to anyone? What do security guards do when there is a student with a knife? Call the cops, right? Why do the Principals want SROs in the schools? Why did the Blair Prinicpal want the cops there? Do you deal with students day in and day out? Do you know more than the Principals? In any case, they could also train the SROs to deal with students who have mental health issues. |
Anonymous
The security guards remained in place this year. THey removed the SROs however there have been more reports of assaults resulting in cops being called in these past 2 months alone (48) vs 51 in the whole 2019-2020 school year. Also, the data actually shows that only 3% of arrests made in prior years were a result of SROs initiating them. The rest were initiated by administration. County leadership needs to start reading and analyzing the data. |
Anonymous
Do you hear yourself? Let's just arrest the kids? Yes, it's terrible that MCPS can't handle unruly students. That doesn't mean you take them away in handcuffs. |
Anonymous
The SROs only initiated 3% of the arrests in previous years. THREE PERCENT! Why do you keep ignoring this data? |
Anonymous
Has anyone posted anything supporting this oft cited claim that SRO’s just run away? |
Anonymous
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There is a lot of pushback on this thread to the idea that there might be more wrong with American policing than a few bad apples, which means we are talking past each other.
For those who think that police institutions are fine, and there are no systemic issues, I'd invite you to read this article or scroll through this Twitter thread. It paints a picture of a culture of corruption across the culture, and a culture that has gone terribly terribly wrong. Note that this is a real, investigative piece and they found hundreds of cases of systemic corruption. The "good cops" were pushed out of the departments, while only the bad cops remained to protect one another. https://twitter.com/BrettMmurphy/status/1458082591144304651?s=20 I share this because that's how some of us have long seen the police, and if you see them in this light, it's really hard to accept giving them casual access to your children because you know that any wrong-doing will be covered up and there will be zero accountability. |
Anonymous
Yes. There's some fixing to do with policing. My point is the county should have looked at the data in THIS county and assess it before making major decisions that could impact the safety of all students especially coming from a disastrous pandemic year when a large number of students were isolated at home. Do this before dismantling a long-standing program that was unanimously supported by ALL HS principals; a program that has NO evidence of significantly arresting students. In fact, the DATA shows just the opposite. Only 3% of arrests were initiated by SROs at MCPS. |
Anonymous
+1 Some people want to make decisions based on data, except when they don't. The people making the decision aren't even in the schools. They sit in their cushy offices and make decisions that impact those who are actually doing the work everyday. Not one anti-SRO person has answered the question of why Principals, those who interact with the students day in and day out, want SROs.. Why did the Blair Principal want the cops there? Why don't some of you anti-SRO people volunteer as "security guards" in the HSs and see for yourself what Principals and staff have to deal with everyday. |
Anonymous
I hear myself. Do you hear yourself? I don't think you do.. because you can't even answer my questions. You have repeatedly ignored the question. You also clearly have no answer about what to do with students who commit "disorderly conduct". What do you do with a 6' 16 yr old who is repeatedly belligerent in class? Should that student be put back in the class? Give him a hug and all will be well. Answer that. |
Anonymous
Gosh, if only there more possible options than either arresting someone or giving them a hug. |
Anonymous
It's been answered over and over. Principals can duck ownership of the problem kids by handing it off to MCPD. |
Anonymous
How can you look at an article about comphrehensive top-to-bottom corruption and say there is "some fixing" to do? How about the police undertake real reforms, introduce accountability for abusive cops, and rebuild community trust, and then we can discuss letting them around our kids again. I mean, despite the national mood, I honestly think the tipping point for MCPS was that video of a police officer verbally abusing a 5 year-old in an MCPS school last year. If the police had held bad cops accountable right then, and worked to rebuild trust in the impacted communities, I don't think SROs would be gone today. |