Student Activists Are Fighting Back Against the Spread of Cops on Campus
March 8, 2018 in Blogs

As student activists lead an anti-gun violence movement throughout the United States, a small but discernible voice among the youths is calling for removing police officers from campuses. This tense moment in America's political climate has inspired some student activists to make a radically progressive demand, calling for strengthening mental health programs in schools, among other views, instead of flooding school premises with potentially aggressive police officers.
One of those young people, Kaila Scaffey of Philadelphia's Central High School, told Splinter News that the gun legislation movement is also about “a call for divestment in police officers and an investment in counselors and mental health services.”
Scaffey said of the officers—who are also known as school resource officers, or SROs—”The ultimate goal is to have officers removed from schools completely. But if they’re going to be there, we want them to be doing their job, which is to protect students, not committing acts of violence against them.”
The role of SROs on school premises came under question after the fatal shooting in Parkland left 17 people dead on Valentine’s Day. The school's SRO, Deputy Scot Peterson, came under heavy criticism from both Sheriff Scott Israel as well as President Donald Trump for not entering the school after learning that shots were fired. Soon after Trump called Peterson a “coward,” the disgraced SRO stepped down from his position—while continuing to defend his actions—but the debate on whether or not an SRO could have stopped the massacre remained heated.
As Splinter News reported, the Florida House Appropriations Committee went ahead and signed a bill that involved, among other things, guaranteeing that every school in the state would …read more
Source: ALTERNET
Recent Comments