"Gwinnett's(Ga.) school police cross the line "

Atlanta Journal Constitution ^ | May 19, 2002 | AJC Editorial Staff

[Vigilantcitizen]

David and Terry Knight once lived a normal middle-class life in Lawrenceville. Two of their children attended Grayson Elementary, two attended McConnell Middle and one was in South Gwinnett High School.

In 1999, as the Gwinnett County school district prepared to implement its own specially designed standardized test, the Knights got involved, as good citizens should. In their case, they joined the Concerned Parents of Gwinnett, which opposed the Gateway test.

CPOG quickly became a thorn in the side of the Gwinnett school board and its superintendent, J. Alvin Wilbanks. Wilbanks in particular seemed intent on using Gateway to establish himself as a leader in the nationwide standardized testing movement, and he didn't take kindly to parents who dared question either his wisdom or his test.

In April 2000, things escalated sharply after a copy of the test was stolen and mailed to the news media. The school district's own police force, which reports to Superintendent Wilbanks, launched a criminal investigation. Terry Knight and other members of CPOG became its chief suspects.

The usual duty of school police -- or "resource officers," as they're called -- is to protect children and teachers, to guard against drug use and to counsel students. They are hired for their ability to communicate and negotiate, to be the good cop, not a bully with a badge.

However, they are also certified police, with full powers to seek warrants, subpoena records and arrest suspects. And in their investigation of the Gateway test, Gwinnett school police misused those powers in ways that raise serious questions about their competence.

Even more chilling, their behavior raises the specter of a police force being used as a tool of political intimidation.

The officer in charge of the case was undoubtedly an intimidator. Jim Keinard talked freely of sending a lot of people -- mainly CPOG members -- to jail. According to interviews with several CPOG members whom he interrogated, Keinard claimed to have ironclad evidence against "suspects" that two years later he has yet to produce. He warned that families could be destroyed, and careers ruined.

When Keinard interrogated Terry Knight and her husband, the Knights tape-recorded the session. In the recording, Knight is told repeatedly of evidence that placed her in the middle of the theft ring. She is told that fellow parents in CPOG were going to jail, and if she didn't cooperate, she would go to jail as well.

In the ultimate threat to a mother, Keinard tells Knight more than once that if she doesn't cooperate, her children could be taken from her. Knight responds, as she does throughout the tape, by saying she knows nothing about the theft.

Suddenly, near the end of the tape, things take on a tragicomic air. Keinard, it now appears, may have gotten a little mixed up. It seems he has threatened, badgered and intimidated the wrong "Terry."

Dennis Foster, Gwinnett's director of school safety and thus Keinard's boss, was present at that botched interrogation, but he will not comment on what happened. He doesn't remember whether Keinard had performed well or crossed the line, nor does he remember if there turned out to be another "Terry."

He does say, however, that he felt no pressure on the case from the superintendent.

Foster and his 16 school resource officers certainly have a big job. They provide security and protection for 82 elementary, middle and high schools, a far-flung "city" comprising 117,000 students and 14,000-plus employees. So it seems odd to have added a two-year, multistate investigation to that workload when other police agencies could have handled the task.

In addition, if Foster and his officers ever find a real suspect, they would face troubling questions in court about the independence of their investigation. During trial, defense attorneys would get to question their motives, and a jury could be presented with reasons why a politically motivated investigation came to the conclusion it did.

Danny Porter, the Gwinnett County district attorney, says that if asked, his office would be willing to take on the Mystery of the Stolen Test. "We're better equipped to handle complex criminal investigations than a school resource officer," Porter notes.

And while Porter would not comment directly on how the Gateway case has been handled, he did offer a more general observation:

"In 20 years of law enforcement, I have found that except in the most extreme circumstances, people don't respond well to threats."

Today, David and Terry Knight no longer reside in Lawrenceville. They fled Gwinnett County because they were afraid of the school police, and now live in Enola, Pa., where David's employer agreed to transfer him. They say they felt that Keinard had lied to them, and if the police will lie, what else might they do?

Meanwhile, Wilbanks has been appointed to a committee to draft federal regulations for state standards and testing, the only district school superintendent in the country given that honor.

[Vigilantcitizen]

"Give a man a badge and his attitude changes completely, all, not a few. The power of arrest is not handled well by most police officers, whether local, state or federal. The number of Federal agencies that now have the power of arrest is staggering, add to that state and local, with the school at the bottom of the ladder, who will be next the sewr dept??????

Actually, the local Douglas county water authority has ARMED officers that patrol the 2 resevoirs that were built with taxpayer money.

Before they built the newer resevoir, where they charge you $15 for 2 people and a boat to fish, you could fish in the old one for free, and there weren't any water cops.

[Billy_bob_bob]

What's really funny is that there is a comic book that recently came out (Dark Knight Two by Lynn Varley and Frank Miller) that has a scene where the National Guard refuses a direct order to attack a crowd. The president brings in "grade school security officers" who are authorized to use lethal force to suppress the mob. Will truth turn out to be stranger than fiction?

[TheLurkerX]

The thing that kills me is that my daughter just took this test. She has ADD and is a slower learner, but this year she has turned in mostly A's and B's in a regular classroom environment. The teacher dragged ass so much in class that she had to cram all kinds of stuff covered in the Gateway into the last couple of weeks of school. They were trying to cover one science chapter a day right before the test. She wound up failing those sections. But they assured us it doesn't matter, because they were going to pass her anyway. This test is a joke, and so is the school system in Gwinnett. I also don't appreciate my fourth grader being taught that inter-racial dating is ok, and it's ok for people to live together. These are concepts that fall under the parents beliefs and jurisdiction, and whether I believe or don't believe in them is not the point. It's a matter of right and wrong. It's not the school's place to brainwash my child with their mantra of choice. I would have problems with this kind of stuff being taught in a high school health class, much less to pre-pubescent 10 year olds without their parents signing off on it.

[Red Jones]

incredible; there should've been a huge cry from the public to simply fire this police officer;

[cynicom]

bob....

After many years of association with law enforcement people, from the federal level, to local one man police forces, I never saw one person that did not at one time or another abuse their authority. Some times it was for personal gain, but most times it was an arrogant display of self ego.

Shaking down store owners and even John Q. Citizen is a way of life for many.

[joesnuffy]

Do they have their own SWAT team?

[joesnuffy]

But US airline pilots cant be trusted with firearms?

[VietVet]

"Why didn't the Knights sue the "bleeb" out of Gwinnett Co. , the School Board, and the ... police is beyond fathom."

Possibly because they did not have entirely clean hands in this matter?

I'd beware of taking this story too much at face value. It is clearly written from an anti-school administration point of view, with a lot of allegations and very few facts.

VietVet

[VietVet]

"I'll bet dollars to donuts the questions are mostly subjective rather than objective with unequivical answers."

If it is like the majority of standardized tests developed in this country, just the opposit is true: most of the questions would have been objective, multiple choice questions, with a few essay or short answer items. It is in the content of the material about which the questions are asked where you would look for propaganda.

VietVet

[Always A Marine]

David and Terry Knight.. say they felt that Keinard had lied to them, and if the police will lie, what else might they do?

With today's rampant corruption, it is impossible to know who is honest and who is out to get you or sieze your property. Some officers are good, but many are corrupt, and this simple rule will never get you into trouble:
DON'T TALK TO THE POLICE.

[VietVet]

"Show me a school where the standardized test is that big of a secret, and and I will show you a school with something to hide."

Actually, the test has to be kept secret before it is taken, or lazy or unscrupulous teachers will just have the kids memorize the answers. Teachers hate standardized tests because, on the whole, they tend to show up the ones who have not been doing their job. Parents hate standardized tests because, due to the nature of testing and measurement, half the children will score below average, and every parent wants to believe that his offspring are, like the children of Lake Woebegone, all above average.

Stealing this test, and giving it to the media to publish, presumably, was a serious crime. It takes thousands of man-hours, and consequently a lot of money to develop a standardized test. With the results potentially compromised by the giving out of the stolen test questions, it must have cost the school district thousands of dollars to revise the test so it could be used.

But I wouldn't have pegged the parents' group as the likely suspects. I would have looked closely at a teacher or administrator who would have looked bad when the results showed that the pupils for whom he was responsible did not do as well as the other students, locally, statewide, or nationally.

VietVet

[jragan2001]

Gwinnett County, where I live, is what I consider "Occupied Territory", referring to the hundreds of illegal aliens living here. This is the same county where a school recently (Five Forks Middle School) suspended a student for merely joking about having wine with her, when it was grape juice she had in her possession. This school system here in Gwinnett is full of total idiots, and parents should NEVER under any circumstance send their kids to a public school here.

[jragan2001]

As talk show host Neal Boortz says here in Atlanta, why would you turn the most precious thing that's yours ( your child) and turn him or her over to the government to be educated at a government-indoctrination center (A school)???

[aynrandfreak]

What exactly did the officer do wrong? Letting people know the consequences of not cooperating if they are found to be guilty is not intimidation. This is a continuation of liberals attacking the authorities for trying to enforce the law. This also seems to be a case of parents fighting accountability in schools. I can understand that the test may not be very useful or objective, but that's because public schools are inherently flawed.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

I heard a good old quote today about school choice.
Back in the 1960's, George Wallace stood in the school door to keep black children out. Today it's Teddy Kennedy standing in the door to keep them in.

[FreedomFriend]

I believe this is Linder's District.

[FreedomFriend]

I know that Douglas County is home to the City of East Point (Fulton County) reservoir. The orginal was where Arbor Place Mall now sits. We used to fish in the lake. They drained it in the early 90s. East Point now gets its water from the lake at Sweetwater Creek State Park.

[FreedomFriend]

I imagine that you're refering to the illegals in Norcross?

[jragan2001]

Absolutely, and all of the illegals all along Buford Highway, where English is considered a second language.

[Movemout]

Button Gwinnett, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, is spinning in his grave that such abrogations of freedom are committed at a school, and in a county, bearing his name.