Principal Stands Up to Officers and Defends His Student

[Music] welcome to audit the audit where we sort out the who and what and the right and wrong of police interactions this episode covers the fourth amendment harboring fugitives and school searches and is brought to us by the denver posts channel be sure to check out the description below and give them the credit that they deserve before we dive into the interaction i would like to invite you all to check out the ata patreon page where you can find ad-free uncensored and exclusive content that you can't get anywhere else and right now we're offering a limited time one-year membership with two months completely free on april 24th 2018 several officers with the denver police department visited rise up community school which is a charter school with denver public schools in an attempt to locate a minor student who was a suspect in a shooting that occurred the night before the officers first approached a student standing outside the school alleged that someone called to report he was acting suspiciously and requested the student's id the officers then approached two male students as they walked back to school and walked with them back into the school building upon entering the school the officers asked a school staff member if the suspect was in the building and the staff member advised that he believed the student was present the officers then spoke with another staff member who requested that principal lucas ketzer come speak with the officers okay so basically so i can't let you guys come in and pick him from school and let him know that you're here and then i can ask him if he wants to talk to you but if he refuses then i can't go get him and bring him to you [Music] you know what i mean like in terms of like so so i can let him know and then what i would say to him is [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] i get it i mean trust me i get it principal ketzer explains the school's policies regarding police interrogations to the officers and that school staff members will not deliver students to the police for interrogation against their will in an interview following the incident denver public schools spokesperson alex renteria told a reporter for the denver post that while the police are allowed to enter a classroom without a search warrant they need approval from a district or school staff member to enter a school unless there's a safety threat the u.s supreme court found in the 1985 case of new jersey versus tlo that even though the fourth amendment protection against unreasonable searches does apply in a school setting the reasonableness of a search must be determined in light of the diminished expectation of privacy a student has at school while the tlo decision concludes that school officials only need a reasonable suspicion of a violation of a school rule or law to conduct a search the law is murkier when police officers are involved rather than school administrators in the 2005 case of jones vs hunt the court of appeals for the federal 10th circuit which includes colorado refused to apply the tlo reasonableness standard to a seizure by a deputy sheriff on school grounds the court concluded that quote because the case before us does not involve efforts by school administrators to preserve order on school property it does not implicate the policy concerns addressed in tlo and therefore does not merit application of the tlo standard however as the court declined to determine which fourth amendment standard should apply in the scenario it is unclear what standard would be applied to a police officer conducting a search or seizure on school grounds code jih of the denver public schools policy on student interviews interrogations searches and arrests states that quote upon request by law enforcement to interview a student witness or interrogate a student suspect school officials shall notify the student's parent guardian and that if the student is under 18 the student's parent or guardian must be present during the law enforcement interrogation or interview unless the parent waives their right or other exceptions apply the policy also requires school officials to release students to law enforcement officers if they have been arrested but does not require that students be released for interrogation and principal ketzer adheres to this policy while interacting with the officers [Applause] so if you shot at your kids though you do you have the same policy i'm just i'm just going to say that that's i don't even know if he's in the building to be honest with you well that other teacher pretty much implied that he's here so he's here i can go with you if you want [Applause] but [Applause] um [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is principal ketzer informs the officers that the student they are looking for is not in the building but requests a business card to provide to the suspect in case he sees him if the suspect actually was in the building and principal ketzer lied to the police he could potentially face several different criminal charges section 18-8-11 of the colorado revised statute states that an individual commits the crime of false reporting to authorities if quote he or she makes a report to law enforcement authorities pretending to furnish information relating to an offense or other incident within their official concern when he or she knows that the information is false it is also possible that principal ketzer could be charged as an accessory to crime section 18-8-105 of the colorado revised statute states that an individual commits the offense of being an accessory to crime if quote with intent to hinder delay or prevent the discovery detection apprehension prosecution conviction or punishment of another for the commission of a crime he renders assistance to such person the definition of rendering assistance includes both harboring or concealing the fugitive as well as obstructing an individual in the performance of any act which might aid in the discovery detection apprehension prosecution conviction or punishment of another by force intimidation or deception while some states prohibit the prosecution of individuals for harboring fugitive family members there is no such exemption for students and teachers or school administrators therefore if principal ketzer was lying to the police he could be charged with false reporting to authorities and if a prosecutor believed they could prove he did so to help the student avoid apprehension he could also be charged as an accessory to crime [Applause] do we know if there's any other students inside now the principal is denying us access to the school denying uh us to look around and now they're saying he's not here we believe they're trying to hide him i assume you're a teacher yeah what are you doing do you have access to the to get back in okay so we might we may need you please let me in do you want her to go back in nope they just said not to officer where he should be yeah i just went and took what he should be in the classroom he's not there on this floor yeah there's only the two floors [Applause] no i know what class it's it's it's the only class on the right down this hallway all the way down to the right okay yeah it's not here so well all the way down on the right is a is a workshop like the class should be talking about on the right hand side yes okay 674 adam we had uh one adult female uh teacher coming out the back door and corporal ward just talking to her right now so my name is mike and i'm the chief of department of safety for denver public schools okay so i oversee all the security police operations for the district so right now i want to talk to the people if we can get the situation you know remedy before we let anybody else okay so can we just take the monsters just check because they have to do verification i have to verify that we don't have an arm so hold on what classes what about each other is he in there okay or he's supposed to be in there okay do you hold on one second where you going okay let's go ahead all right after arriving at the school district employee chief michael eaton of the denver public schools department of safety authorized the officers to search the classroom where the suspect should have been at the time according to the denver public schools district website as the leader of the district-wide department of safety chief eaton oversees 140 team members including investigators armed patrol officers dispatchers emergency management professionals and campus safety officers the department of safety is also responsible for training district staff in emergency management and offering guidance to school administrators to quote enhance school safety in a wide variety of situations while the school district's organizational structure is not publicly available and the interplay between chief eaton's jurisdiction and principal ketzer's authority is unclear it does appear that the department of safety under chief eaton's supervision has the authority to make safety decisions for the school in her interview with the denver post spokesperson renteria stated that quote in this situation the police officers were granted access by our public safety head because there was an imminent threat as the officers had claimed that the suspect might be armed as we discussed earlier in this episode police officers do not need a warrant to search a school classroom and given the diminished expectation of privacy that students have in the school setting the safety threat to other students posed by a potentially armed suspect and the fact that the officers obtained consent from a school district employee with an apparent authority to allow a search of the school grounds it is highly unlikely that any court would find a search conducted by police officers in this situation to be hi unconstitutional well there's somebody we're looking for we're going to just make sure they're not here okay i'll have to look at your facebook phone all right thank you thanks guys [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thank you all right [Applause] thanks guys when i the first teacher that i talked to that said here reply [Music] immediately when the student was not found in the classroom that the officers initially searched the officers searched the entire school including the classrooms supply closets and even the roof despite the officer's belief that the school was hiding the suspect the officers were unable to locate him anywhere in the school following the incident both the denver police department and denver public schools conducted internal reviews of their employees actions during the encounter and both investigations found that no wrongdoing occurred with the exception of one officer who received a minor reprimand for using insulting language about the teachers in a conversation with another officer it is unclear whether the officers ever apprehended the suspect they were searching for or if any parties involved will be taking legal action overall the denver police department officers get a b-plus because although there were likely more appropriate circumstances to apprehend their suspect under the officers consulted with the proper supervisory official before moving forward and were operating under the pretense of a legitimate law enforcement purpose at the time of the encounter while this interaction does raise many questions about both the ethicality and legality of granting police officers broad authority to conduct searches in schools the courts have largely failed to acknowledge what role the fourth amendment plays in an encounter such as this different courts would likely reach varying opinions regarding the legality of this interaction but there is certainly an argument to be made that the search was completely lawful from the dpd's perspective the officers were dealing with a potentially armed suspect inside of a school filled with vulnerable students if the officers had left the school without searching the building only to have a shooting take place once they're gone then the narrative surrounding this interaction may have been very different one of the many challenges facing members of law enforcement is balancing the assessment and response to a potential threat with the appropriate constitutional and ethical boundaries and officers tend to err on the side of caution when making those determinations sometimes that caution does indeed result in an illegal detention and misconduct but other times being overly cautious can save lives without being overtly intrusive there is no doubt that the officers could have interacted with the students and teachers more professionally but it appears as though they remained within the bounds of their authority throughout the interaction while students do deserve to enjoy some level of safety and security while on school property it cannot serve as a safe haven from the consequences of criminal activity especially when other students may be at risk principal ketzer gets an a for respecting his students rights and privacy rigidly adhering to the school's policy of not surrendering students to the police and for peacefully complying with the search once it had been authorized by chief eaton principal ketzer did everything that was within his power to ensure that the policies of his school were respected and that his student was treated fairly and appropriately but once chief eaton arrived on the scene the principal had no choice but to comply with the search regardless of whether or not the student that was being searched for was actually in the building principal ketzer's actions would have been appropriate and warranted just as officers are tasked with balancing the constitutional liberties of citizens with their duty to investigate crime so too are teachers and school administrators tasked with ensuring that their policies are followed and their students are handled accordingly i commend principal ketzer for having the courage to enforce the school's policy and the awareness to understand when to comply with the search be sure to give your support to the denver post for covering this story you can find a link to their channel in the description below let us know if there's an interaction or legal topic you would like us to discuss in the comments below thank you for watching and don't forget to check out the ata patreon page for more police interaction content you

Channel: Audit the Audit

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Keywords: amagansett press, first amendment audit, 1st amendment audit, auditing america, news now california, sgv news first, high desert community watch, anselmo morales, photography is not a crime, san joaquin valley transparency, first amendment audit fail, walk of shame, news now houston, police fail, 1st amendment audit fail, public photography, auditor arrested, police brutality, highdesert community watch, pinac news, cops triggered, news now patrick, east hampton

Id: Ls6xKKNHtwQ

Length: 16min 6sec (966 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 25 2021