The DOJ is handing out over $125 million in grants to put police officers in schools across the country

MassPrivateI

The Department of Justice (DoJ) will be providing $45 million in a fund to hire police officers to be assigned to public schools nationwide.

A $125 million grant program is expected to add to the 937 law enforcement officers position in public safety resources in 236 cities across the nation.  

The administration also aimed to put up to 1,000 new school resource officers and counselors in schools across the country, as well as to make sure every school has an emergency management plan. Although many of the president’s ideas have been rebuffed by Congress, the ideas for emergency plans by schools and additional safety officers are in place.

A school resource officer is a sworn law enforcement officer with the authority to make arrests and a license to carry a weapon in schools. Resource officers can also mentor and advise students, as would a guidance counselor.

Marc Schindler, the director of the Justice Policy Institute, a nonprofit advocacy group that seeks to reduce the use of incarceration, believes it’s a shortsighted policy.

“There is no indication that the presence of (resource officers) makes schools safer,” he said in an interview. “In fact, there’s research supporting that there’s likely unwanted consequences.”

In 2011, the institute published a report, “The Case Against Police in Schools,” pointing out that schools with the presence of officers are more likely to have arrests for minor offenses, among other things.

Attorney General Eric Holder said: “In the wake of past tragedies, it’s clear that we need to be willing to take all possible steps to ensure that our kids are safe when they go to school. Especially in a time of increased challenges and limited budgets, our top priority must always be the safety and well-being of our children.”

In Newtown, Connecticut, an estimated $150,000 will be given over by the DoJ to help provide “critical support for law enforcement and essential services.”

Earlier this year, the Connecticut police department (CPD) received $2.5 million to partner the CPD with other agencies to aid in assistance when a shooting occurs at an elementary.

Holder announced that the DoJ and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) have collaborated with state and local leaders to “as part of the Obama Administration’s commitment to supporting the City of Detroit, the Justice Department will take a variety of actions to provide direct assistance to city leaders and local law enforcement authorities in order to improve public safety throughout the metropolitan area.”

Money will be funneled into the DoJ office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (JJDP) as well as the National Forum on Youth Violence program (NFYV) to ensure “the success of Detroit’s first responders.”

In Modesto, for example, the grant is for $1 million to fund eight new school resource officers in the California city’s school district.

“Not only do they deter crime, but they provide opportunities for positive relations between students and law enforcement,” said Karen Servas, a Modesto City School District grant writer.

Through the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) office, the DoJ will fund “263 agencies a total of $125 million to help fund nearly 1,000 law enforcement positions – including more than 350 school resource officers.”
http://www.occupycorporatism.com/police-state-doj-hires-public-safety-officers-select-cities/ 
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/09/27/203508/in-bid-to-help-prevent-violence.html#.Ukk5PD-F0vx 
http://truth-out.org/news/item/19117-justice-department-awards-grants-for-police-officers-in-schools

Student privacy denied:

There is a constant national debate on how well our schools are preparing kids for lives they’ll feel worth living. But the importance of that issue somewhat omits another major concern: how regularly these students are being tracked in and out of class.

During the 2016 presidential and congressional elections, I doubt very much that candidates of either party — except maybe insistent libertarians — will raise the issue of how so many of our kids are taught that they are continually under criminal suspicion and surveillance in their schools — in this land of the free and home of the brave.

How many of our students are even taught the Constitution in their schools? How many of their parents bother to find out?
http://theworldlink.com/news/opinion/editorial/students-privacy-denied/article_a6078262-29eb-11e3-8f39-001a4bcf887a.html 

Expert explores link between federal data mining and Common Core: 

In an exclusive studio interview with The New American magazine’s Dr. Duke Pesta, Heartland Institute Education Research Fellow Joy Pullmann outlined the crucial link between the Obama-backed “Common Core” nationalization of schooling, the federally funded tests that go with the standards, and the vast data-gathering apparatus being erected by the administration to gather private information on U.S. students. The Common Core assessments, which have already been adopted by about four in five state governments, are a key element underpinning the entire scheme, she explained.

“The first thing people have to know is that testing is inseparable from Common Core,” said Pullmann, a leading analyst focused on the education “reform” agenda with the non-partisan Heartland Institute. “When governors signed a bunch of documents saying ‘yeah, we want to do this nationalization of education project,’ one of the things that they signed on to was the Common Core initiative, and they defined it as standards plus assessments. So those assessments, those tests, are the enforcement mechanism to make sure that Common Core gets into the minds and into the hands of teachers and children in the classrooms.”

As part of the agreements signed between state governments and the federally backed consortia, Pullmann explained in the interview, data gathered on children at school will be provided to the organizations. As an example of the types of data being sought, she said one of the consortia was interested in information on “student behavior, their attitudes, their persistence, their discipline, and so forth — a lot of non-academic things that a lot of parents aren’t comfortable with.”

“The reason I call this the student-data pipeline is because states have promised these organizations they’ll give this information to them — it’s basically a blank check; whatever information they think is necessary,” Pullmann explained. “And they’ve promised that they’ll change their state laws or their regulations according to whatever is necessary to get that carried out.”  
http://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/education/item/16647-expert-explores-link-between-federal-data-mining-and-common-core 

D.C. universities want powers to arrest off campus:

Universities throughout the District want to expand the reach of their campus security forces into adjacent neighborhoods to better control disruptive behavior by students and to appease angry neighbors.

The issue is sparking sharp debate, notably at George Washington University’s Foggy Bottom campus, where residents are increasingly clashing with student neighbors over late-night parties and other quality-of-life issues, and where school police were admonished for improperly patrolling off private grounds.

Expanding the campus police footprint into areas under the sole dominion of D.C. police has implications across the District. Through an umbrella group, representatives from eight universities are debating how far the authority of their officers should be extended.

The proposal has prompted questions over whether campus officers should have arrest powers on public streets and how officers would interact with residents. While school police forces have broad authority over students on campus — such as requiring students to show ID cards on demand — it is unclear how they could enforce code of conduct standards off school grounds.

“The real problem is if the university gives security officers power off-campus to treat students differently than other citizens,” said Art Spitzer, the chief legal counsel for the Washington chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. “It raises bigger concerns if they’re going to have police powers against you and me and not just their own students.”

It also raises questions of how to hold private police accountable for actions they take in public. On campuses such as George Washington, for example, police aren’t required to make reports public.

“You could potentially have a police force with all the authority of state law enforcement but that somehow manages to fly under the disclosure radar,” said Frank LoMonte, director of the Student Press Law Center, an advocacy group for student journalists. “It’s one thing when we’re talking about a cop walking around in a student union. But when we’re talking about a cop actually coming to your living room, the public really needs to know what you’re up to.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-universities-want-some-police-powers-to-extend-into-neighborhoods/2013/09/29/1fc26b76-1a5b-11e3-82ef-a059e54c49d0_story.html 

Villanova University may give its campus police arrest powers, weapons:

Pennsylvania – Villanova University is considering joining the ranks of many colleges and universities across the country that have made the switch to a “full service” police force.

Alison Kiss, executive director of the Wayne-based Clery Center for Security on Campus, says each school is different and they should constantly revisit their protocols and policies.

“If there is a reason that you need to, for example, arm your officers and give them arrest powers, then it’s something that certainly should be investigated, explored, and possibly implemented based on what you find,” she says.

University spokesman Jonathan Gust says no decision has been made yet and the university is holding forums with students, faculty, and staff to discuss the issue and get input from the campus community.

At this point they are not discussing details publicly, including whether officers would carry guns.
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2013/09/30/villanova-u-may-give-its-campus-police-arrest-powers-weapons/ 

Why is DHS supplying colleges & universties with armored personnel carriers?

Ohio State University also counts an MaxxPro MRAP tactical vehicle among its service fleet.

The college reportedly obtained one of the armored vehicles through the same means as Murfreesboro and Dallas County in mid-September.

Said Campus Police Chief Paul Denton at the time, “We pride ourselves on being self-sufficient from local authorities.”

Read more:
http://massprivatei.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-ohio-state-university-has-acquired.html

Arming campus-police managing the risk: 

http://www.nkms.com/uploadcache/1315496358-AdamsAyerBishop_ArmingCampusPolice_FINAL_20110718.pdf 

The International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators:
http://www.iaclea.org/ 

Massachusetts police chiefs want to expand their police powers of arrest throughout the state:

Massachusetts – Dozens of police chiefs converged on the State House today to press for a bill, in the works for 23 years, that would allow them to pursue outside their jurisdiction suspects who have committed motor vehicle infractions

Eighty-six chiefs showed up to testify before the Joint Judiciary Committee, said Representative Alice Hanlon Peisch, who testified in support of the bill with two police chiefs by her side.

In 1990, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that officers could not follow vehicles across town or city lines without probable cause that the person had committed a crime, said Wayne Sampson, executive director of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association and a former Shrewsbury police chief.

The ruling meant that officers could not follow people who were speeding or had committed other motor vehicle infractions across jurisdictional lines, said Peisch, a Democrat of Wellesley.

The proposed bill could prevent drunk drivers from escaping from one community into another, she said.

“It’s a very simple bill,” Sampson said. He believes it hasn’t passed yet because the Legislature “failed to see the impact” it could have on communities.

“We certainly want the Legislature to understand how many communities this affects,” he said.

Officers have also had to drop cases where weapons or drugs were found in vehicles after officers had chased the vehicles out of their jurisdiction, he said.

The bill was revised before today’s hearing, said Peisch, because it was previously deemed too vague. Revisions have made it clear that officers are not trying to expand their jurisdiction, but rather simply continue an investigation that started in their jurisdiction, she said. 
http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2013/09/25/police-chiefs-converge-state-house-push-for-bill-allow-officers-cross-town-lines-pursuit-motor-vehicle-violators/m8yzEokaxBQRDu5vYw0EjL/story.html

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