A parent of a student at Hollymead Elementary School in Albemarle County wrote last week to share concerns from several parents of county school students about the sudden, unannounced presence of an Albemarle County police officer in two county schools.
“Last week, families at Baker Butler and Hollymead learned that a police officer with ACPD had been inside their elementary school and was part of an ongoing program where his unannounced and ongoing presence was to be expected,” the parent told me, via email.
That parent, and others, attempted to find out what was going on, and I’m told there were conflicting messages back.
“Local principals stated the officer started a program on his own initiative, ACPS states the program was new and implemented by ACPD without any ACPS involvement, and ACPD says this is an ongoing practice known as geo-policing,” the parent told me.
I attempted several times last week to get in contact with Albemarle County Police Chief Sean Reeves to try to learn more about what was going on here, but after finally getting in touch with Logan Bogert, the public information officer for Albemarle County local government, I learned that Reeves was on vacation for the Thanksgiving holiday week.
Bogert stepped in to fill me in on what the situation is with this police officer in the schools.
“An ACPD officer, while not new to ACPD, was newly assigned to a patrol sector that includes several northern end schools. As part of routine community-policing efforts, he briefly stopped by Hollymead and Baker Butler to introduce himself to school leadership and find positive, non-enforcement ways to build relationships with the broader community he now serves,” Bogert told me, via email.
“He is not serving in an SRO capacity, and there is no safety concern prompting these visits,” Bogert said. “As part of our geo-policing model that has been in place since 2012, it is both normal and encouraged for officers to stop by schools, businesses, and community spaces within their assigned patrol areas. This helps build familiarity, trust, and positive relationships within the communities they serve. This is not a new initiative or program exercise.”
Seems to me that, at the least, this could have been communicated better to parents.
Another idea: maybe the officer could have called ahead, set up a meeting with the principals and assistant principals after school hours.
It’s one thing to just do a drop-by at a local business, but a school?
“In a time when school shootings are common and law-enforcement actions create real fear for many in our community, the sudden appearance of an armed officer inside an elementary school building is not only concerning, it is traumatic. Especially for our most vulnerable populations that tend to experience poorer interactions with police. Of further concern is that this officer is not an SRO, meaning it is not clear what training, oversight and accountability are in place for his involvement with the schools,” the parent who asked me to look into this told me.
The parent offered suggestions for action on the part of the school system and police department that I forwarded to the police chief, so it should be on his radar.
- A clear public explanation of the program
- Advance communication for all visits
- Transparent guidelines for police presence and interactions in school
- A commitment to trauma-aware, equitable practices at every school, -not just on the district level
This was a fail for the ACPD, on the heels of the disastrous training exercise involving members of the local PD and the Department of Homeland Security that spooked students, staff and parents at three county schools in May.
ICYMI
You could look at this as strike two.
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Chris Graham
