28 February 05, approximately 1345 hours, 9th grade study hall classroom. I was just sitting in this classroom, reading a book- it's as boring as hell. Suddenly, the door swings open. The assistant principal and two plainclothes police officers rush in, very swift and calm. I looked outside the door to see a police officer holding an AR15. The officers inside the room grabbed a student (who I did not know) not far from me, patted him down, and walked him outside the room, grabbing his backpack on the way. It was all very quick and silent. Not a word was spoken, really.
Anyway, someone called an organization named "WeTip" which is an anonymous crime reporting hotline. The police department was advised that this kid had a "kill list" and a weapon. He did have a kill list, but no weapon.
Although he had a hit list, which is wrong (I'm not sure about arrestable), but that's not really what concerns me so much. What concerns me is that anyone can just call in a single anonymous phone call, and have anyone led away by the police. Also, about the police officer with the AR15- Is it just me or is that overkill? The department in this little town of less than 25,000 issues an AR15 to every single officer in the force. There's one in every car. So, even if that is somehow okay and not an over-militarization of a smalltown police department, bringing one into a high school? I would have thought 3 handguns would be enough against a fifteen year old. Guess not. I suppose they were concerned about the possibilty of him taking a hostage, but I still think it was unnecessary.
What do you think?