K-9s will be used in random classroom screenings, Florida school district officials announce
In a video announcement, SCPS Superintendent Serita Beamon and Seminole County Sheriff Dennis Lemma discussed the new measure, which is aimed at improving classroom safety.
This is batshit crazy. Fuck the police state.
I'm not from the US, but isn't this against the 4th?
Generally, a search or seizure is illegal under the Fourth Amendment if it happens without consent, a warrant, or probable cause to believe a crime has been committed.
Kids don't have the same rights, literally.
Government property, and kids rights have been judged curtailed by scotus, so no.
It’s only against the amendment if the families can afford to litigate. This is not going to happen in those schools (and by those I mean predominantly white middle/upper class racist).
In many cases schools are legally considered in place of parents meaning they can give certain consents for the underage attendees such as approving of search and seizures of their private property. https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/in_loco_parentis
It's K-9 units.
The police love their dogs so much because smells aren't protected like that. They don't need a warrant to pass by you, but passing by you is all a dog needs. If a dog smells weed, that's probable cause, and now they can do a real search.
In this case random K-9 searches just means there'll be a cop and a dog walking around, seeing what the dog smells, maybe generating that probable cause.
If the dog alerts, then you have manufactured probable cause. Problem solved.
The school around the corner here (Germany) has a "school dog". Its job is to help teach kids how to approach dogs, how to stay safe in the presence of dogs, read their body language, stay away from dogs that run around alone, always ask the owner first etc., kids can get a "dog petter licence" by succeding in a test.
The dog's second job is to be in the class rooms once a week for every class and just go from child to child and help them to calm down.
Kids stop throwing things to the ground because the dog might eat it and get sick. Kids tend to be not so loud because they learn that dogs can hear way better than humans and loud noise can make them feel uncomfortable and even hurt them. The kids learn to make sure the dog's bowl has always fresh water and when the dog decides to go to its resting place to respect that and not to disturb it. Teachers say it has a good influence on the relationship between teachers and school children and between the children and teachers faces light up too when they can pet a dog after a stressful hour in class. It calms nervous kids down and helps concentration in the class room and who wants to fight if the dog could get nervous and not understands what's going on?
The older kids are now even involved in helping with training a puppy to also become a school dog.
https://www.brakenhoffschule.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/FullSizeRender.mov
The idea of a police dog in schools is sending shivers down my spine.
If a government treats every child as a potential criminal first before thinking of protecting it, then something is really wrong.
That sounds like a great program, but what do they do with kids who are allergic to dogs?
"Believe it or not... right to jail."
I have no idea. It will probably depend on the severity of the allergy. Maybe not touching the dog is enough. I know people who have a cat allergy and have cats and cat allergies are usually more severe than the ones against dogs. They seem to have found a way, since the dog(s) are there for a while now. It is estimated that more than 1000 schools in Germany currently have dogs in some form or the other in pedagogic/educational use.
Some schools only use the dogs in one specific school room, some have dogs that only visit the school once in a while and some have them there all the time. Prior to active participation in the dog-assisted lessons, parents were informed in detail and in writing, including a declaration of consent and a questionnaire about the children's allergies and fears.
Some dog breeds are mostly hypoallergenic, like some poodles IIRC
Oh, so you're saying the high school I went to shouldn't have patrolled dogs down the hallways/past lockers once a week randomly to search for drugs?
…. What are they screening for?
I mean, you know. If they’re like anxiety dogs, and they give out cuddles….
(Who am i kidding this is Florida.)
I know you're kidding, but you touch on a very real point that I think will pass unnoticed by many. You know that this will be in predominantly poor schools. Schools that are attended mostly by people of color. I'm reluctant to make generalizations, but I have encountered far more children of color afraid of or anxious around dogs of any size relative to white children. I don't know all the reasons why, but my gut says to blame the use of police dogs against people in their neighborhood, in their families, and people on TV that look like them. Maybe my experience is anecdotal and my experience is not the norm, but I no longer assume that all children will be friendly with or calmed by interaction with a dog, even a very calm friendly dog. Having grown up with dogs, it's hard to empathize with that, but I try to be sympathetic. These dogs are only there to instill fear in kids from a young age and to train them to abdicate their dwindling rights to the people in power.
You’re right of course.
Maybe we should used trained rabbits. Can you train rabbits?
Even white, privileged kids can be afraid of dogs. My daughter's friend, who is white and at least middle class, is terrified of our dogs. She won't come over to our house.
Admittedly, one is 60 pounds, but the other is only 15 pounds and is basically a cuddle machine. She's terrified of both of them.
Gay kids.
Ammunition and firearms, according to the police.
But isn’t every good kid with a gun a solution against a bad kid with a gun? /s
god if only the dogs would completely misunderstand and maul the police for handling guns
Our schools are looking more and more like prisons.
*Florida's schools.
My kid's starting kindergarten Monday. His school is vastly superior to mine.
He doesn't have green screen Oregon Trail though. He'll never know the joy.
"We should probably get them used to intrusive police surveillance right from an early age."
Grew up in the Orlando area. Police dogs were used back when I was in high school and before every once in a while to search for drugs. I graduated in 08' and I know they were there in at least 2002. (Sibling 2 years older)
Wish they wouldn't do it, but it appears to just be new for them trying to sniff out gunpowder(?). Unsure what the chemicals they would be looking for with a gun if it isn't that. ... side note, all of the K-9 units still have guns, so won't the dogs just be smelling the officers handguns if it were gunpowder they could possibly smell?
classroom safety
Something tells me this is not going to be making anyone any safer.
You are completely wrong!
That rent-a-cop patrolling the halls's job just got a lot safer.
They don't have security in the halls, those are actual police that will send you to real jail, with a real record, for the standard bullshit behavioral problems and trouble that almost all teens go through. And these kids know that there is always a very real possibility that the police with just murder them and then get rewarded with a paid vacation.
Who wants to bet that the random screening won't be random at all? No way they are going to be doing this at the wealthy schools.
"This month, just like last month, we've randomly chosen schools with the least number of white students, and have randomly chosen all the black and brown students at those schools to be 'screened.'"
Teach less and police more. The kids of Florida are in the cross fire of DeSantis idea to become the best hate state he can be. I'm really hoping business will see this and start moving out before they get brain drain.
I really hope the Floridians will vote out the party of hate and greed and power along with the rest of us. I bet this will keep the younger population out and the older will probably vote for anyone with an R.
I have never seen that much hate in politics because Im not old enough for the civil rights day but the hate is strong with the GOP.
Is there any reason they can't just say "dogs"?
Is a K9 just a tacticool dog?
How 1940s Germany of them.
i first thought they were talking about the Kubernetes-Tool lmao
Texas has done this for years, I remember 10+ years ago being in middle school and they send k-9 in to sniff everyones backpacks.
This is awful but not anything new as far as I'm aware. My high school had it and that was just a little under a decade ago. It's easy to look at these things in the context of the rise of authoritarian strong-man politics and go "holy shit that's horrible" but it's important to remember that most of these horrifying new dystopian features of society are actually the result of the decades of fear-mongering about drugs, crime and terror.
Had them in the classroom? Our school would use them to sweep lockers occasionally. But it was when students were not near their lockers.
"Bring in ze dogs! Search ze children!"
good. bunch of drugs are in use at many schools - this program should be massively expanded upon.
Lots of drugs in use in congress, let's strip search them hourly.
hourly doesnt seem to be all that efficient but you're right, I'm sure there are some drugs in use in government. it's a tedious job.
