Uvalde School Shooting: Police Force Suspended
The school district in Uvalde, Texas, has indefinitely suspended its entire police force in the aftermath of the school shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24.
Facts
- The school district in Uvalde, Texas, has indefinitely suspended its entire police force in the aftermath of the school shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24.
- The statement, released on Friday by the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District (CISD), said it had decided to "suspend all activities" of the district's police department "for a period of time" and has requested that the Texas Department of Public Safety provide "additional troopers for campus and extra-curricular activities."
- During the suspension, current officers with the department "will fill other roles in the district." Lt. Miguel Hernandez was also placed on administrative leave, and Director of Student Services Ken Mueller reportedly chose to resign.
- The shooting, which killed 19 children and two teachers, was the deadliest at an American school since 26 people were killed in the Sandy Hook attack in Connecticut in 2012.
- More than 375 local, state, and federal officers responded to the shooting but reportedly didn't confront the shooter for more than an hour. A July Texas House committee report found that the slow action was due to "systemic failures" and "egregious poor decision-making."
- This decision to suspend the police force comes 10 days after protesters set up at the Uvalde CISD administrative building to demand the removal of officers from campus grounds until investigations into the police department’s response to the shooting are complete.
Sources BBC News, Al Jazeera, NBC, Sky News, Forbes, and Texas Tribune.
Narratives
- Narrative A, as provided by CNN. The abhorrent decision-making of police in Uvalde was an abject failure that allowed this tragedy to unfold. In its aftermath, it quickly became evident that this failure would be carried over through a lack of accountability and transparency, and it's time to bring this to an end: The decision to suspend the police force is a step in the right direction to doing this.
- Narrative B, as provided by The Atlantic. While the police response to the school shooting was appalling, it shouldn't be allowed to overshadow the reality that this should never have happened in the first place. So-called gun rights alongside disturbingly easy access to semi-automatic weapons have gone too far and are a constant danger to American society.
