The presence of police in schools should receive more scrutiny in the aftermath of the horrific assault of a South Carolina high school student by a local sheriff’s deputy.
Captured on video by fellow students, the assualt shows the now-former cop named Ben Fields—who was also a bodybuilder and coached the school’s football team—slamming an unidentified girl, who was sitting still at a desk, onto the ground and then throwing her across the room. According to state Rep. Todd Rutherford (D-Columbia), who is acting as attorney for the student, she was injured in the assault.
Cops in schools—euphemistically labeled school resource officers—are the most graphic example yet of what is called the school-to-prison pipeline. Arrests and criminalization are now routine when students commit offenses that, just a few years ago, would have been handled by a trip to a guidance counselor or the principal's office.
"We all thought that the [school resource officers] were there to protect the children from outsiders, from those threats that involve guns and knives, not because they were not getting out of a chair when a teacher asked them to," Sen. Rutherford told station WLTX-19.
Those who think the Spring Valley High School assault was an anomaly should talk to Nancy Trevino of Dignity in Schools (DIS).
"We don't think so. We've seen other instances where young people in schools have … suffered brain injuries. Last year a young man in Texas was tased and he was in a 42-day coma. So no, we don't think South Carolina is an isolated case," said Trevino.
There's more on school police brutality below.
In July of this year, Mother Jones cited 28 instances of students being injured by brutal cops in schools across the country.
And at least two school police officers have used deadly force while patrolling off campus. In 2010, 14-year-old Derek Lopez was shot to death by a San Antonio, Texas, school police officer who said the youth had rushed him. And in 2011, Oakland California, school police shot and killed 20-year-old Raheem Brown. Brown was accused of attempting to stab an officer with a screwdriver.
DIS is a national coalition specifically dealing with the issue of alternatives to cops in schools. But Trevino cautions that the group has not concretely affirmed it is against the presence of police on campuses. She said they support the work of the member organizations, and the decision is left up to those individual groups.
"But we do specifically support schools to deal with school discipline and not leave it to law enforcement," said Trevino.
"We believe [it] should be handled by school personnel and the schools themselves, not police officers."
Makes sense to me.