MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The stomach-turning video of a South Carolina school resource officer forcibly removing a student from class has gone viral. WREG asked Shelby County Schools what is being done to prevent an incident like that here.
In the cellphone video, the South Carolina school resource officer yanks a reportedly disobedient student from her desk, sending her to the ground. Then, he appears to toss her toward the front of the classroom.
Media outlets report the altercation began when the student refused to leave the classroom.
Closer to home, SCS manager of student safety Ronald Pope offered his comments: “We have crime in the community. We’re going to have crime in and around schools, but we teach our officers how to be proactive, how to be productive and work with the children.”
Pope explained SCS already put measures in place to prevent incidents like this one. He said that includes asking parents to teach their kids to respect school resource officers.
“Our resource officers get a lot of training, a lot of training in de-escalation, a lot of training in coping skills. So, we try to make sure that our officers have the tools necessary, so that they don’t get involved in situations like this,” Pope said.
Still, if things get tense between a student and school resource officer, Pope said the district encourages students to ask for an administrator to be there for the interaction.
District Attorney General Amy Weirich said in Tennessee, the law does not hold only people working around kids to a high standard.
“Every adult in the state of Tennessee has added duties when it comes to our children,” Weirich said.
While the feds investigate what happened in that South Carolina classroom, Shelby County leaders hope nothing of the sort puts Memphis in the headlines.
The district said it encourages parents with questions or concerns about school resource officers to contact their child’s principal.
