Police Blotter
July 16, 2020
There has been some discussion about removing school resource officers from all Teton County schools because they do not reduce crime, increase harm to students and lead to unsafe learning environments. We’re happy to have this discussion and provide some facts about what your Jackson school resource officer does and you can decide if she needs to be there or not.
Officer Ashley Blair is your current school resource officer. The Jackson Police Department is contracted with the Teton County School District to have her there. Is she there to prevent crime? If possible, but measuring what doesn’t happen is difficult. We do know that crime will happen in the schools whether we are there or not. Crimes like theft, drug use, assault, destruction of property, and alcohol and tobacco use. Remember the sale and use of LSD at the JH Middle School last year? That’s a good example. These issues are addressed in cooperation with school officials. That most often takes the form of citations and entry into the juvenile diversion program to keep them out of the court system, but still hold them accountable for poor decision making.
Another main focus of the school resource officer is the investigation of neglect and abuse of children. Those issues are often discovered in the school setting and while the school is equipped to deal with counseling issues and make referrals to mental health for additional counselling, it takes a police officer to investigate the crime and hold the offender accountable. Much of a school resource officers time is spent dealing with these issues.
School safety is another primary focus of the school resource officer. There were 6 school shootings in 2020. If you look back further, you’ll see even more. These events don’t just happen in big cities, but small and medium sized communities like Jackson too, like the one at the Cokeville, WY elementary school in 1986 not too far from here. Guns and other weapons being brought into the schools has happened in our schools as well. The school resource officer provides training to students and staff on how to respond to those threats and will literally take a bullet for your child if the worst should happen.
We believe school resource officers in our Jackson schools have been a positive influence to your children. To give you an idea, Sgt. Matthews was the school resource officer over ten years ago. Even today, he is approached by the students he mentored during that time. When done right, a school resource officer can have a lasting positive impact on the lives of students.
Something to think about, but let’s get to the blotter and see what report calls we took yesterday.
20072444: Found Property (ID and phone)
20072532: Traffic Collision.
20072547: On July 16, 2020, Officer White responded to a Dog Bite. We don’t have the details yet because she is still working on the report but sounds like someone’s furry companion bit someone. She’ll be working to verify vaccination records, quarantine procedures for the dog and possibly citing the dog owner. What’s the big deal? Rabies is a lethal virus carried by pets that can be transferred to humans through a bite.
20072557: On July 16, 2020, Officer Gerlach responded to a report of someone violating a court order. He learned a man who was recently arrested was under court order not to contact the woman he had assaulted. He did anyway, sending her text messages that violated the order. Officer Gerlach reminded the man he was not to have contact and wrote a report that will be sent to the county attorney’s office for possible prosecution.
Here is the other stuff we did that didn’t result in a report.
Totals Description
3 Animal Control Complaint
1 Animal Control Found
4 Bike Traffic
5 Citizen Assist
4 Code Enforcement
4 Collision
1 Driving Complaint
1 Fire Alarm - Commercial
5 Follow Up PATROL Investigation
3 Found Property
1 Illegal Camping
1 Investigate Fire
2 Medical Assist
1 Outside Agency Assist
4 Parking Complaint
1 Parking Rounds
6 Parking Violation
1 Protection Order Violation
2 Suspicious Circumstances
1 Theft
4 Traffic Stop
1 Welfare Check
56 Totals