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  1. Comment on This school district in Texas may create its own police force in ~life

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    Making a separate comment because this really goes in a different direction. The video shows footage of the Black Student Union, and oh my, were the people in the comments up in arms about that...

    Making a separate comment because this really goes in a different direction. The video shows footage of the Black Student Union, and oh my, were the people in the comments up in arms about that (remind me to never read YT comments again). To contrast, we have several other culture clubs like National Hispanic Honor Society, Chinese club, French club, and so many more that I won't even try to recall/name them here.

    What are your thoughts on this kind of club?

    1 vote

  2. Comment on This school district in Texas may create its own police force in ~life

    student
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    Hi there-- regular ~er here on an alt because I feel like I can offer a unique perspective. I go to RRHS. First of all, this is by no means a secure campus. There are approx. 12 buildings, with...

    Hi there-- regular ~er here on an alt because I feel like I can offer a unique perspective. I go to RRHS.

    First of all, this is by no means a secure campus. There are approx. 12 buildings, with some doors open during schools hours (as you'd expect, since students have to move classes, and can sometimes arrive late). Like most schools, the teachers have RFID badges that open all the doors on campus, and depending on certain conditions, more doors are open.

    There's no perimeter around campus, though all the drives in are monitored by a staff member or closed during the school day. We need police on campus. It's essentially our only line of defense against any person who could have bad intent.

    We've definitely cleaned up over the past year or two. We used to have 2 main offices (where visitors were signed in, etc) and cut back to one secure entry office. There have been additional measures to increase security that I won't go into as well. It's definitely been a rough transition, but it's for the better. We have regular "active threat" drills where we lock up and turn out all the lights, discussing a few scenarios afterwards. These discussions have always been very interesting, as each teacher has a unique take on what to do.

    We thrive on "security through obscurity," which is a serious problem. We all know that that's someone will figure out a way in. I could list off several ways students sneak on/off campus during the school day. I've retrieved things I had left behind hours after school ended.

    To be honest, I'm not sure how I feel about creating a police force run by the district. I'm not entirely sure of the tangible benefits that we'll have to this, since it seems like the SRO program is working fine. We have several officers patrolling campus at all times, and it really makes me feel safer. Sure, I may be white, but with my tendency to see holes in the security of places I go, this makes me feel safe.

    Another perspective I have to offer is that I attended a "closed campus" high school for a year. Essentially, we had two buldings with a gated courtyard between them. The only unlocked entrance was the front, where you had to sign in at the receptionist's desk and get a visitor tag. I definitely noticed a lesser police presence here, even though we had approx. 70% of the size of RR, simply because the physical security was better.

    Let me know if you have any questions-- I'll try to avoid super specifics, but I'll answer as many as I can.

    1 vote