蜜桃影视

As shots rang out at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, last year, Scot Peterson, a school resource officer assigned to the campus, chose not to engage the gunman 鈥� a decision that prompted a fierce national outcry and led to the filing of criminal charges against him Tuesday. Despite the episode鈥檚 unique local context, some school safety experts and civil rights advocates fear that the former officer鈥檚 arrest could have broader ramifications as anxious administrators and parents continue to grapple with school shootings.

Some critics said the arrest could cause some officers to adopt a more 鈥渕ilitaristic鈥� approach to combating school-based violence, or to avoid the job outright if the consequences of inaction could land them in jail.

鈥淢y fear is that other police departments will see this and they will start training in a more militaristic fashion in order to prepare for the very rare鈥� school shootings, said Nadine Connell, an associate professor of criminology at the University of Texas at Dallas. 鈥淟ook, 99.99 percent of school resource officers are going to get through their entire career and this isn鈥檛 going to be the thing they ever have to think about. But when you prime them to think about that, you get military models of policing.鈥�

Given the severity of the accusations against the Parkland officer, however, some school officials expressed doubts that the arrest would set a dangerous precedent. Bob Farrace, spokesman for the National Association of Secondary School Principals, said he reached out to multiple administrators and school resource officers about the implications of Peterson鈥檚 arrest but heard no serious concerns.

鈥淛ust about all of the SROs who have shared their perspectives鈥� on Peterson鈥檚 response recognize that the alleged behavior was 鈥渁 clear departure from protocol,鈥� Farrace said in an email. 鈥淥nce upon a time, the protocol was to wait until SWAT arrived, but that has long since changed to the SRO鈥檚 engaging right away. Perhaps if there was more of a gray area, the criminal charges might have broader national implications for criminalizing professional judgement.鈥�

In many parts of Florida, there was a sense that justice was finally being offered. Following former Broward County Sheriff鈥檚 Deputy Scot Peterson鈥檚 arrest Tuesday, parents who lost children in the shooting cheered the decision. Among those who lauded the arrest was Andrew Pollack, whose 18-year-old daughter Meadow was killed in the shooting.

鈥淚t鈥檚 been a long time coming,鈥� he told the Sun Sentinel. 鈥淎ccountability is all I wanted, and now it looks like it鈥檚 happening.鈥�

The charges against Peterson follow an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which concluded that he failed to investigate the source of gunshots, retreated during the shooting and told other officers to remain 500 feet from the building during an episode that left 17 students and staff dead.

Peterson 鈥渄id absolutely nothing to mitigate鈥� the Parkland shooting, FLD Commissioner Rick Swearingen said in a statement on Tuesday. 鈥淭here can be no excuse for his complete inaction and no question that his inaction cost lives.鈥�

Peterson鈥檚 criminal defense attorney, Joseph DiRuzzo of Fort Lauderdale, didn鈥檛 immediately respond to a request for comment from 蜜桃影视. But he that the state鈥檚 actions 鈥渁ppear to be nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt at politically motivated retribution鈥� against Peterson. He said officials 鈥渉ave taken the easy way out鈥� by blaming Peterson 鈥渨hen there has only ever been one person to blame,鈥� referring to the gunman.

Peterson made his first court appearance Wednesday at the Broward County Main Jail, and his bail was set at $102,000.

It鈥檚 too early to know how the specific charges against Peterson 鈥� which seven counts of child neglect, six of which are felonies, three counts of misdemeanor culpable negligence and one count of misdemeanor perjury 鈥� will pan out, but some legal experts have argued that prosecutors face an uphill battle in a case that may be without precedent.

Multiple school-safety experts said they鈥檙e unaware of another case in which a school-based officer was arrested for failure to protect. Meanwhile, multiple legal experts told reporters that officials used to charge Peterson.

鈥淎lthough as a father, legislator and human being, I believe that there is no societal defense to cowardice, the law has consistently and recently held that there is no constitutional duty for police to protect us from harm,鈥� Michael Grieco, a Florida-based defense attorney, told the Associated Press. 鈥淭he decision to criminally charge Mr. Peterson, although popular in the court of public opinion, will likely not hold water once formally challenged.鈥�

In the year since the Parkland shooting, officials across the country have engaged in an often controversial push to increase police presence on school campuses. Proponents say school-based police are necessary to keep children safe. But critics, including civil rights advocates, argue that placing officers in schools leads to the criminalization of student misbehavior that has historically been addressed by school administrators. They have also highlighted federal data showing that students of color face disproportionate arrests at school.

Perhaps most crucially, there鈥檚 that school-based officers make campuses safer. Meanwhile, school shootings like the one in Parkland, while high-profile, are statistically rare. When such tragedies unfold, however, Connell said they set a dangerous 鈥減recedent for martyrdom,鈥� as evidenced by several recent school shootings in which students hurled themselves at the gunmen to avert greater carnage.

鈥淚f we expect that from our school resource officers, the type of people who are going to be attracted to that job are not the type of people that we want to be in charge of the safety of our students,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou need somebody who can interact in a compassionate way, and you need somebody who is willing to understand childhood development.鈥�

Harold Jordan, senior policy advocate at the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and an outspoken critic of school-based police, offered similar concerns. Jordan said Peterson鈥檚 arrest raises an important question for school leaders: What kind of officer do they want patrolling their hallways? Because active shooters often use firearms with high-capacity magazines and conclude their attacks in a matter of minutes, he said, an officer with SWAT experience may be best equipped to intervene. But school policing tends to center on the softer skills of developing relationships between students and officers.

鈥淭hose are very different types of police officers, both by training and temperament, in my experience,鈥� Jordan said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a real contradiction in the rationale given for officers being placed in schools and for what these officers are expected to do.鈥�

Though Jordan is skeptical of police in schools generally, he said officers with a SWAT-like mentality could contribute to a negative school climate for students.

鈥淚t鈥檚 one thing to say that 鈥榊ou鈥檙e in school because you want to keep somebody from coming in the door who is heavily armed to try to harm kids,鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 another thing when you have to look at each kid who is in the school as a potential suspect and a potential shooter.鈥�

Peterson鈥檚 arrest could also hurt recruitment, said Curtis Lavarello, executive director of the Florida-based School Safety Advocacy Council. Lavarello previously worked as a school resource officer in Broward County, where Parkland is located, in the 1980s before founding and serving as executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 going to have a dramatic impact on school resource officers statewide,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f I鈥檓 an SRO, I鈥檓 watching this one really carefully.鈥�

But school security consultant Kenneth Trump, president of the Ohio-based National School Safety and Security Services, said he鈥檚 skeptical that Peterson鈥檚 arrest will send a 鈥渟hock wave across the country鈥� absent a mass school shooting that mirrors the precise circumstances found in Parkland. He encouraged school and law enforcement officials to examine their own policing practices. He developed by the National Association of School Resource Officers, which urges school-based police to act as educators and mentors in addition to law enforcement officers.

But Jordan predicted that Peterson鈥檚 arrest will have ripple effects throughout the education ecosystem. Police departments may reconsider whether to send officers to schools, he said, while school-based police could reconsider their jobs. It could also prompt confusion among school district leaders about their own liabilities.

鈥淲hen you take one officer and make a national example out of that person,鈥� Jordan said, 鈥渢here鈥檚 no good outcome here.鈥�

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