Cop takes 'midnight photos' of teacher's classroom

Times Argus ^ | David Delcore

[grapeape]

What a lode of bull. Who is the Janitor supposed to call? Is there anyone there who outranks a cop? This is a Public Building. Face it you are busted and YOU are going down.

[zeugma]

i think you have a rather severe misunderstanding of the roles of police officers. First, he wasn't acting in any official capacity. He admitted that. Second, he was outside his jurisdiction. He admitted that. Third, it was after hours and he didn't have a legitimate reason to enter the building (i.e., a reasonable belief that a crime had been committed).

The only reason he was able to get inside the building was that the janitor was too stupid to tell him to pound sand and get a warrant before entering. (It should be obvious that attempting to enter a school at 1:30 am is not just a routine matter).

Cops don't have the right to do anything they want any time they want. Any place that does allow cops to do that is called a 'police state'. I'm sure that's not what you mean to imply exists here.

[fml]

In schools today thats tough to do. For all three of my kids schools you have to sign in, state why your there, and confirm you visit w/ the teacher involved then wear a badge announcing you're visit. If your visit is spontanious your child or the teacher come to you at the office. They don't let you in the building during school hours.

[r9etb]

Oh my god what are you people talking about?!?!? This is a police officer. This is a public building! He can go anywhere in the public domain. That is his job.

Read again -- he was outside his jurisdiction as a police officer, and as such had no official business in the school building. He has also stated that he did this as a personal errond while "on break," so it was clearly not "his job."

And if it was "his job," then he would have had to have a search warrant to take the pictures in the first place.

Finally, we have to address his misuse of police equipment: his uniform (which undoubtedly helped to "persuade" the janitor to let him in the room); and his police car, which he improperly took outside his jurisdiction.

Regardless of Treece's activities, this cop was wrong to do what he did. And while he was at it, Treece can now shout "Gestapo tactics," and make it stick.

Mott's gonna pay for this one.

[anniegetyourgun]

My point exactly, Rob. Parents who care do what you are doing. The rest will be left to these kind of educational wolves - and those parents won't do a thing about it.

[George from New England]

get a warrant before entering

Since when is a warrant required to enter a PUBLIC BUILDING.

[Ron in Acreage]

My daughters school does not allow parents to go to the classrooms to get their kids. They must be brought to you by a "runner". You have to make an appointment to speak with a teacher.

[harpseal]

School officials have rejected that notion, defending Treece as a “thought-provoking” teacher who provides students in his public issues class with resources from the full spectrum of political perspectives.

These unnamed school officials are complete Anti-American slime that should not be feeding off the American taxpayers. The nature of the projects shows that Treece does indoctrinate his students and should be tarred and feathered as a start. His school official enablers, superiors, should probably be more severly punished.

[fml]

Mott's gonna pay for this one.

_________


Maybe not, he was smart enough to get an attorney.

[dead]

That's the same thing the leftist socialist screw worms in Vermont will say. Next you'll here the cop is suspended without pay until he is investigated....

Well, I never before cared what the socialist screw worms in Vermont had to say, so I’m not going to start now.

And if some politically-active, pro-abortion cop used his uniform and badge to gain access to a classroom in the middle of the night and take pictures of your child’s pro-life art project, you’d be screaming for a lot more than a suspension.

[George from New England]

I'll bet the "runner" is getting paid union scale!

Time to rid our system of these excessive costs.

[grapeape]

Unless it is religious speech. Socialists have no problem breaking the law when it fits their purposes. If this person was teaching the history of Christianity then they would have been hammered!! No one in the angry media would have cared at all about the twisted logic you are trying to pull off.

[MineralMan]

"And if some politically-active, pro-abortion cop used his uniform and badge to gain access to a classroom in the middle of the night and take pictures of your child’s pro-life art project, you’d be screaming for a lot more than a suspension."

And there you go. It seems like many folks on FR are for the cops when the cops are breaking the rules to do something they approve of, but anti-cop when they're doing something else. Your example is excellent.

[BOBTHENAILER]

Let me break those out.....sorry....

Thanks a million, this is gonna be fun. Thanks for the find annie, Rush was all over this.

[mewzilla]

It's a public school. If free speech is allowed, why not freedom of assembly? Surely the cop should be free to go there to witness all that lovely free speech?

[George from New England]

And if some politically-active, pro-abortion cop used his uniform and badge to gain access to a classroom in the middle of the night and take pictures of your child’s pro-life art project, you’d be screaming for a lot more than a suspension.

1) Tell me where in the USA in public school that a child would be allowed to do a pro-life project?

2) The more people who saw this pro-life project the more proud I would be of my child.

[MineralMan]

"If this person was teaching the history of Christianity then they would have been hammered!! "

I don't know why that would be. My local High School offers a class in World Religions. The history of Christianity and of the other major religions is taught in that class. Religion is an important part of history.

What is not taught is that you must be a Christian to go to heaven. That's not an appropriate thing for a public school to be teaching. History of religion is.

[USAF_ret]

Just curious. Would you have the same attitude about a police officer doing this if he were an atheist cop photographing a fundamentalist Christian teacher's classroom where the Ten Commandments had been posted?

[Freedom2specul8]

"Who is the Janitor supposed to call?"

Usually, if there is a crime taking place, the janitor calls the cops himself. If the janitor is concerned about the reason the cop is there..he calls his supervisor. Unless there is a warrant..he does not have let the cop in?? Pinging someone who might know..

Jdontom..what say ye?

[Calpernia]

MM, the article did say he use to work there. He knew the custodian. So it may not be the uniform influence here.

But don't you think the police officer was proactively protecting the civil rights of the students?