{"id":8420,"date":"2013-04-18T14:55:46","date_gmt":"2013-02-25T07:53:12","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-02-25T07:53:12","slug":"en-US","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=8420","title":{"rendered":"IN: School resource officers LEOs or not? If not, can’t be assaulting an officer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Should resisting a school resource officer be a crime? What about the Fourth Amendment implications of what a school resource officer does under T.L.O.? Tough questions that the legislature is invited to answer. K.W. v. State<\/a>, 984 N.E.2d 610 (Ind. 2013)*:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

We recognize it is somewhat anomalous that two uniformed law-enforcement officers responding to the same school incident could be treated differently for purposes of resisting law enforcement, if one was purely an “outside” officer while the other was a school-resource officer. School-resource officers serve a vitally important role in maintaining school safety and order against a growing range of discipline problems and threats, and we in no way diminish the value of their work. Yet we are also reluctant to risk blurring the already-fine Fourth Amendment line between school-discipline and law-enforcement duties by allowing the same officer to invisibly “switch hats” — taking a disciplinary role to conduct a warrantless search in one moment, then in the next taking a law-enforcement role to make an arrest based on the fruits of that search.<\/p>\n

We note, though, that it would be within the Legislature’s prerogative to conclude that evolving threats to school security and discipline warrant expanding the resisting law enforcement statute to apply to forcible resistance, obstruction, or interference “with a law enforcement[, school liaison, or school resource] officer[,] or a person assisting the officer[,] while the officer is lawfully engaged in the execution of the officer’s duties.” See I.C. \u00a7 35-44.1-3-1(a)(1). Not only is such a policy judgment about the changing role of school officers best reserved to a politically responsive branch of government, it would be less likely than common law to cause unintended Fourth Amendment consequences. The Legislature may wish to consider such a change.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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