Walter Rhein Podcast
A Resource Officer Is Just an Armed Aggressor at Your Child's School
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Real stories from a real human being. I’m too old to learn how to use AI, and I wouldn’t do it even if I wanted to (which I don’t). Sponsor me if you think human writing is important—thanks in advance! Thanks for your support: 30% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/b66e5c2e] 💙 40% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/01f1b0e8] 💙 50% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/0d3e6643] 💙 60% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/6a8f4788] I knew that my daughter’s school had a police officer stationed on the premises because I saw his vehicle whenever I went to pick her up. So, when my daughter told me that a boy had spit [https://aninjusticemag.com/a-boy-spit-in-my-daughters-face-in-spanish-class-and-this-is-what-happened-dab5b82d89fe] on her in Spanish class, the resource officer was the first person I called. We were still in a pandemic [https://health.clevelandclinic.org/is-the-pandemic-over/]. I realize with extreme frustration that approximately half of our country has never taken the pandemic seriously, but it remains a fact that if you transmit a virus to somebody through your spit, you could potentially get them killed. Whatever personal political beliefs people harbor, I should be able to expect the law to protect my daughter from suffering unnecessary exposure to potentially lethal attacks. This was my mindset when I called the school resource officer and left a message. I expected this to be handled immediately. I informed the resource officer that the lawyer I consulted indicated this was a very serious issue. When the officer finally did get back to me, it was after a three-day weekend. Although he assured me that he’d “looked into it” and “taken it very seriously,” he indicated there was nothing he could do. Essentially, in his mind, it came down to a case of “he said/she said” and he wasn’t about to believe the Spanish-speaking daughter of an immigrant over the aggressive white boy (he didn’t say that last part out loud, but he didn’t need to). This conflict didn’t end there. I eventually got it resolved to my satisfaction. What I realized was that the mistake I made was calling the school resource officer at all. He’s not there to actually do anything, he’s there as part of the ongoing war on education. He’s not there to field calls about assaults on your daughters, he’s there to arrest teachers for presenting the true history of American slavery or any other lessons conservatives deem to be “inappropriate.” School resource officers are just another way to divert potentially productive educational funding into a punitive system designed to inhibit your child’s chance of success. Decent people need to speak out about this. There’s a major problem with American police When you drive around my community, there are a lot of signs that read “Back the blue.” Recently, Wisconsin congressman Derrick Van Orden was making the rounds wearing his “thin blue line [https://www.wxow.com/news/derrick-van-orden-talks-pfas-and-flooding-in-town-of-campbell/article_74806858-0186-11ee-a753-0f741acabce7.html]” hat. I don’t think that’s appropriate, and I also think it’s odd considering he was present at the Capitol riot [https://captimes.com/opinion/john-nichols/opinion-derrick-van-orden-seems-to-want-voters-to-forget-what-he-was-doing-on/article_69f24665-694f-5f0c-beaf-6c788f4af525.html] on January 6th. Conservatives like to claim they stand for “law and order.” However, the moment a favored politician becomes the subject of a criminal investigation, conservatives begin to howl [https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/mar-a-lago-raid-gop-response-defund-fbi-1394486/] about the unfairness of it all. The clear message, to me, is that conservatives seem to feel American police officers are there to enforce their authoritarian will. When they say “back the blue” it means they want armed men to help enforce laws that strip women of bodily autonomy [https://www.naacpldf.org/press-release/supreme-court-overturns-constitutional-right-to-bodily-autonomy-in-transgressive-reproductive-rights-decision/]. In America, “law and order” doesn’t mean that a father should expect a police officer to protect his daughter from being spit on. I was an idiot for ever assuming it did. Conservatives love police officers [https://www.currentaffairs.org/2022/07/why-conservatives-hate-the-government-but-love-the-cops]. Police officers kill a disproportionate [https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/blacks-whites-police-deaths-disparity/] number of Black men. Think about that the next time you see a patrol vehicle in front of a school. Indifference to assault At the beginning of the school year, my daughter made me very proud when she was selected as student of the month. She works very hard, she never gets into trouble. The school even relies on her to work as a translator because the ELL teacher they hired doesn’t speak Spanish. What’s another name for “free labor?” My daughter does everything she’s supposed to do. All of that means nothing when she gets in the crosshairs of white male privilege. As I talked to the school resource officer, he made a quip about how he’d “never had problems” with my daughter, as if she were an equal participant in this conflict. Of course, he hadn’t had problems with her, look at her record! What I’m more curious about is the record of the boy. What kind of bumper stickers are on display on his parent’s vehicle? Oh, did they happen to be bumper stickers that aligned with the school resource officer’s political leanings? I guess it’s time to burn evidence. We can’t “ruin a boy’s life” because he spits on a Spanish speaker. Is that how all school resource officers think? You better prove to me that you don’t think that way. I don’t think that’s an unreasonable thing for a concerned parent to ask. But what about school shootings? Some people might try to claim that school resource officers will protect your children from a mass shooter. Again, that’s an assumption. Unfortunately, actual statistics show that school resource officers might actually make things worse [https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/states-cannot-rely-school-resource-officers-stop-school-shootings]. There have been a couple of times when I’ve dropped off my daughter and I’ve seen the school resource officer go strutting into the building. I think he likes prancing into the school wearing a gun on his hip. Frankly, I don’t want that gun in that building with my kids. After talking to that officer, I don’t want him around my daughter at all. Let’s be real, if somebody attacks the school with an AR-15, the school resource officer does not have the firepower to provide an effective response. A handgun is not adequate when confronted with a military-grade rifle. School resource officers are just the appearance of a response. In reality, all they do is soak up resources that would be better spent on additional educational professionals. At a recent community event, the superintendent of our district said that we were going to run out of money [https://aninjusticemag.com/if-there-is-a-parental-bill-of-rights-there-should-also-be-an-educators-bill-of-rights-1d27035a6c30]. Well, let’s cut some fat. Fire the school resource officers. Use that money on computers, materials, scholarships, and teachers instead. Thanks for your support: 30% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/b66e5c2e] 💙 40% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/01f1b0e8] 💙 50% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/0d3e6643] 💙 60% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/6a8f4788] Parents need to pay attention We get into trouble when we go through life making unsubstantiated assumptions. Many parents see police officers at their children’s schools and they assume those officers are there to help protect their kids. However, if you want to be a responsible parent, you really have to sit down and do some research as to whether or not that’s the case. Think about your own experience with the police. If a police car pulls up behind you in traffic, do you feel “protected” or do you feel like you’re about to get pulled over and issued a ticket? Our kids have enough stress these days. Do you think it makes them feel better to see armed men who likely harbor prejudices marching through the halls of their school? Multiple reports [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/27/white-supremacists-militias-infiltrate-us-police-report] indicate that white supremacists have infiltrated police forces throughout our country. That’s part of the reason why a disproportionate number of Black men get killed [https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/2020/know-their-names/index.html] by police. Let’s spend our resources on educators I had an eye-opening experience when the school resource officer at my daughter’s school completely failed to stand up for her. Responsible people have to be mindful of all the sneaky tactics deplorable people use to erode your child’s chance at a decent future. Don’t skate by with your head in a cloud making the absurd assumption that, deep down, everybody in our community wants the best for your children. They don’t. The school resource officer at my daughter’s school did nothing when a boy spits in her face. My conclusion is that he’s only there to soak up funding that could be directed at better preparing her, and every other child in our community, for the future. Conservatives want to turn your children into obedient, ignorant laborers who serve their billionaire masters. The last thing we should be doing is giving them guns and allowing them free access to our children. Thanks for your support: 30% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/b66e5c2e] 💙 40% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/01f1b0e8] 💙 50% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/0d3e6643] 💙 60% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/6a8f4788] I'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe [https://walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]
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