<p>A South Carolina high school junior was shot dead today by a resource officer at his school. I have never been a fan of resource officers. Most of the ones in our school district are power hungry blowhards. Hope this is investigated impartially.</p>
<p>The kid had a knife. The kid stabbed the officer. The officer responded by shooting the kid.
I’d like to see what you would do if someone had a knife and had stabbed you once and most likely, still had the knife in his hand and the capacity to stab you again.</p>
<p>Until the entire story is reported and explains exactly how this went down, it’s probably best to wait before implying that the officer was wrong in his action.</p>
<p>The resource officer in our school is wonderful-beyond-words addition to our school. He’s trusted by most all the students and adored by the staff and parents. This is in a public school with mixed student population. We have lost him a couple of times due to cut backs, etc. and each time staff, students and parents have fought to get him back. He’s that vital.</p>
<p>Horrible situation though, posted about SC shooting…</p>
<p>It sounds like the officer did what was reasonable from what we know so far.</p>
<p>A taser may have been a better option if he had one. If it’s life and death and you’re trained to draw and shoot, then you go with your training. This kid could have also stabbed other students.</p>
<p>BTW, we just had a horrific murder of four kids that did a random home invasion and cut up a mother/wife/nurse and her young daughter. Just because someone is young doesn’t mean that they aren’t capable of extreme violence.</p>
<p>I think a security guard is usually district staff and their duties seem to consist of making sure people don’t come onto campus who aren’t supposed to, that students aren’t smoking, etc.</p>
<p>However for schools that have a police officer actually in the building more than periodically, it sounds like they have issues that have gone to the next level already.</p>
<p>Our resource officer is a cop. He maintains a presence in the school and school “community”. He is there of course, if major issues come about, but also is a great support of many of the kids who may have a troubled past and they trust him - he often knows their families, their neighborhoods- lots of the stuff that regular staff don’t. Our RO also runs our “Service Corp” - a group of kids who by choice do lots of community service. It is a mix of all kinds of kids, from many “groups” at school - it’s a club of sorts that is not based on smarts, sports - anyone can join. He comes to many of the activities after school - things like school plays - just cause. He’s wonderful and has a long history with the school.</p>
<p>“I confess that I’ve never even heard of the term ‘resource officer’. Is it basically a security guard and a person who breaks up fights, etc.?”</p>
<p>In our school district, the resource officers are regular police officers with the city’s police force. They carry the same weapons any police officer does. I think that resource officers can be wonderful additions to school security IF they are competent and unbiased. Unfortunately, our city has seen a spate of really poor resource officers. They seem to be the dregs of the officer corp that are assigned to our schools. One pulled a gun on an unarmed student in the middle school last year and was fired as a result. Another was fired for vandalizing the h.s. vice principal’s office as a “joke.” There have been at least 3 resource officers in our district fired in the past several years. </p>
<p>A school setting presents an entirely different scenario than any other place. The people inside must be, by the rules, disarmed (yes, of course this is a good idea!), but the officers can pack deadly weapons around a bunch of kids. </p>
<p>I am not saying this kid was innocent…not by a long shot…but one can shoot to disable and not to kill if one is an experienced officer. Shooting to kill within the confines of a high school setting is, to me, a very , very LAST resort.</p>
<p>Our high schools in Northern Virginia have one police officer assigned full time from the county to each school. There are other staff employees who keep an eye on the comings and goings in the parking lots (HS), etc. Usually the officers fit right in as a part of the high school community. Our previous resource officer was a varsity basketball coach too. The situation in SC is terribly sad and I’m sure devastating for the families. I don’t think our resource officers come to work ever expecting something like this to happen.</p>
<p>The resource officer at the HS immediately behind my church looked out a window one morning earlier this year and saw a man loading a rifle in the trunk of his car in the alley between the HS and the church. He went out, drew his handgun, “got the drop on” the gunman, as the saying goes, and then disarmed and restrained him.</p>
<p>Turned out that the gunman, who had several guns and a knife, was planning to go in and kill people who were attending a morning AA meeting that rents our church multipurpose room. Starting with a former girlfriend and her new boyfriend.</p>
<p>A narrow escape. Pure luck that the officer happened to look out and see this in progress. The happy outcome was of course due to his professionalism.</p>
<p>I would think that all school districts did a rethink on security after Columbine. I would also guess that security training in schools is something that wouldn’t be hard to find.</p>
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<p>I thought that officers were trained to shoot to kill. If you’re going to draw your
weapon, use it effectively. He had been stabbed so his body chemistry was
dealing with that. If you’ve been stabbed, the other person is probably pretty
close to you and if he does it again and takes you out, then he has the gun
and can use it on others.</p>
<p>" I am not saying this kid was innocent…not by a long shot…but one can </p>
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<p>Officers are taught to shoot to kill, not disable. I don’t know all of the parameters, but I know that in my city, if there’s a hostage situation, the SWAT team is supposed to shoot to kill if the perp threatens to kill the hostage.</p>
<p>Why is the high school setting different? Do you think dangerous kids are less dangerous while they’re in a school setting or do you think that shooting to kill should always be a last resort when a 16 year old is involved?</p>
<p>Why is the high school setting different? Do you think dangerous kids are less dangerous while they’re in a school setting or do you think that shooting to kill should always be a last resort when a 16 year old is involved?</p>
<p>Police officers who are patroling almost always have another officer with them to help control the situation- I am wondering what protocol was at this school- especially since children are walking the halls, schools are usually pretty packed, not the sort of place you want to start firing a weapon. Are police officers not trained in how to disarm people anymore?</p>