Readers React: Why are there armed cops on campuses at all?

To the editor: For centuries, in Western culture, houses of worship and universities were considered inviolable refuges where no constabulary were allowed. Today, we have 14,000 mostly armed police officers on American campuses. (“Violent South Carolina classroom arrest adds to ‘school-to-prison pipeline’ debate,” Oct. 27)

Teaching is not easy. There have always been disruptions from unruly students, with no racial preconditions.

We should remember that throughout the 1950s and ‘60s, classroom disruptions were often caused by gangs of white urban toughs dressed in leather jackets and equipped with switchblade knives and misconceived persecutions.

The front-page picture with this article of an officer lording over Venice High School is very disturbing. He stands there as if he is in full discretionary command of all that is happening in front of him. He is not an educator; he is an enforcer whose presence may cause uneasiness.

There should be no place for police on school campuses, as their presence is anathema to the principles of persuasion and teaching.

Anthony Altieri, Toluca Lake

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To the editor: The two things that bother me most about the defiant South Carolina high school student being roughed up by a police officer are that none of this would have happened if the student had done what the teacher had asked, and the video doesn’t tell the complete story.

It seems to me that we are so willing to allow students to be disrespectful to teachers and staff, and we don’t demand that they follow the rules of the school.

This is not a race issue; this is about a student who ignored the teacher and vice principal, both of whom tried to get her to leave or turn off her phone. What happened is the student’s fault.

Linda Shabsin, Diamond Bar

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To the editor: One of the most needed skills for teachers as well as campus cops is knowing how to de-escalate situations. Was this matter so serious that it required the teacher to call an administrator, a request for a campus cop’s urgent assistance and the extreme overreaction of the officer?

No. The student had put away the phone by the time the cop arrived. Better choices for what to do next would have been after-class contact with counselors and school administrators.

All school personnel need to take courses on how to de-escalate conflicts. This has been a long-neglected area in teacher and administrator training.

Marianne Friedman, Alhambra

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