Board talks use of force at schools
By Joey Pitchford
Published in News on November 8, 2017 5:50 AM
The Wayne County Board of Education discussed the use of force in schools Tuesday, after several members of the community came forward to express concerns about law enforcement officer's use of pepper spray.
The concerns come after the school system released a memo Oct. 26 detailing procedures that school resource officers follow during fights and the consequent behavior expected from students. Those procedures cover the use of force, including pepper spray, which SROs from the Goldsboro Police Department and Wayne County Sheriff's Office have the legal right to use if they deem it necessary to quell a fight.
Several local residents said that they did not want pepper spray in their schools, and the board should find ways to keep it from being used, despite the fact that protocol for using pepper spray in schools has not actually changed.
Keith Copeland, from the Goldsboro/Wayne County NAACP, said that using pepper spray could cause more harm than good.
"Go on YouTube and look up the pepper spray challenge, and see how those kids are reacting when they get that pepper spray in their eyes," he said. "You are not going to be creating a calm situation, in fact you are going to be causing chaos."
Resource officers across North Carolina have had access to pepper spray for years. A study by the N.C. Depart of Juvenile Justice in the 2008-09 school year found that 94 percent of resource officers in N.C. schools carried at least pepper spray, with 43 percent also carrying a taser.
In addition, the use of force is determined by law enforcement agencies, not board policy. The board does not have any policy related to the use of pepper spray, and does not have the legal right to dictate how law enforcement officers use force while doing their jobs.
The memo sent by the school system came after law enforcement and school district officials noticed a cluster of fights at Eastern Wayne High School earlier this year said assistant superintendent David Lewis. In those incidents, students tended to run toward the fight to get a better look, rather than clearing the area and allowing law enforcement to handle the situation.
The memo was intended to remind students that law enforcement officers carry pepper spray and can employ it if necessary. Thus, students should clear away from fights to avoid being caught in pepper spray in the rare event that an officer has to use it. The memo did not indicate a change in policy, Lewis said, on the part of the school board or law enforcement.
"The sheriff's department is not changing protocol, they're not saying this is how they want to handle situations now," he said. "It's more a reminder that students who want to run toward a negative situation may not like the result if an officer has to use pepper spray."
The only change in procedure for law enforcement is that SRO's from the sheriff's office will now use a whistle instead of a verbal warning to notify students if pepper spray is going to be used.
Instances of pepper spray use in Wayne County schools are exceedingly rare, Lewis said, and are expected to stay that way.
Superintendent Michael Dunsmore said that, while he does not have the authority to control how officers use pepper spray, he wants to open up a dialogue between law enforcement and school officials to keep the unnecessary use of pepper spray out of schools.
"My concern is the safety of our students, I think everything that was said this evening is spot on," Dunsmore said, referring to the public comments. "I cannot dictate to the sheriffs what they can and can't do in the performance of their duty. What Sheriff Pierce had shared with me through his legal firm was what their legal requirements are. What I had asked [Pierce] is that we sit down with these community meetings and come together and everybody's on the same sheet of music, because the last thing I want is pepper spray in my school."
To that end, representatives from the school system will attend a School/Justice partnership meeting Wednesday in the jury pool room on the third floor of the Wayne County Courthouse. The meeting, beginning at 9:30, will be hosted by judge Ericka James, who also spoke at the Monday board meeting.