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A6 U.S. NEWS
Wednesday 4 december 2019
Wisconsin officers on front lines in 2 student shootings

By IVAN MORENO, TODD Police Chief Dean Smith
RICHMOND and GRETCHEN said only that the officer
EHLKE and the student got into an
Associated Press "altercation" in the officer's
OSHKOSH, Wis. (AP) — office, the student stabbed
Wisconsin high school re- the officer with an edged
source officers have found weapon — Smith declined
themselves on the front to elaborate — and the of-
lines in two student shoot- ficer opened fire with his 9
ings in the past two days, mm pistol, hitting the stu-
underscoring how police dent once. It's unclear how
in schools can face life-or- many times the officer may
death situations and likely have fired.
adding to the debate over At Waukesha South High
the best ways to respond to School, 80 miles (130 kilo-
school threats. meters) south of Oshkosh in
An Oshkosh Police Depart- suburban Milwaukee, the
ment resource officer shot student apparently grew
a 16-year-old student Tues- angry with another student
day after the boy stabbed and pointed a pellet gun
him in the officer's office at at the other student. The
Oshkosh West High School. school's resource officer
A day earlier, a resource helped clear students from
officer at Waukesha South the classroom.
High School helped clear Linda Ager told the Milwau-
students out of a classroom Parents wait in line to be reunited with students at the Tipler Middle school reunification center on kee Journal Sentinel that
after a 17-year-old student Tuesday December 3, 2019, in Oshkosh, Wis. the Waukesha shooting
pointed a gun — it turned Associated Press happened in the classroom
out to be a pellet gun — of her husband, Brett Hart,
at another student's head. schools have armed offi- mentors. NASRO recom- for resource officers or re- a special education teach-
Another police officer en- cers on campus, according mends such officers have strictions on their weapons. er at Waukesha South.
tered the room and shot to a survey by the National three years of experience But the state Department Ager said her husband re-
the student. No one in ei- Center for Education Statis- and says they should be of Justice has adopted strained the student until
ther incident suffered life- tics. The survey covered the willing to engage with stu- best practices similar to the resource officer arrived.
threatening injuries. 2015-2016 school year, the dents and have excellent NASRO's recommenda- At some point, another of-
"Today's tragic event shows most recent year surveyed. communication skills. They tions, calling for officers to ficer entered the room and
that trained school re- That figure doesn't include should complete a school- work with schools on the shot the student who re-
source officers can save schools with armed private based policing course be- extent of their duties, the fused to drop the weapon.
lives," Oshkosh Superinten- security guards or teach- fore being assigned to the skills they need, and where As school shootings have
dent Vickie Cartwright said ers and administrators who beat and complete an school discipline ends and become more frequent,
at a news conference. carry guns. advanced school polic- illegal conduct begins. The gun rights advocates and
The debate about the role The U.S. Department of ing course NASRO provides state guidelines also sug- gun control advocates
of armed teachers or police Justice has adopted best within a year of completing gest officers receive train- have sparred over how
in schools has been a con- practices for resource of- the basic course. They also ing in child development, best to respond to them.
stant in the wake of school ficers from the National should complete bi-annual restraint policies and de- Supporters of gun restric-
shootings across the coun- Association of School Re- training on how lone offi- escalation strategies. tions have argued that put-
try. But rarely have armed sources. Those guidelines cers should handle threats It's not clear what led to ting more guns in schools
resource officers been able call for resource officers and assailants. Tuesday's stabbing at Os- does little to prevent shoot-
to prevent a shooting. to serve as police officers No Wisconsin laws spell out hkosh West High School, ings and just puts students
An estimated 43% of public as well as teachers and any special requirements which has 1,700 students. at greater risk.q
NTSB: Poor training led to 2017 Minneapolis school explosion

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Fed- gy and Eagan-based Mas- ing the utility's meters. The
eral investigators have ter Mechanical Inc. were foreman's son, who was
concluded that a deadly moving meters on Aug. 2, helping, had no training
explosion at a Minneapolis 2017, when the explosion for pipefitter work, failed
school in 2017 happened happened. School was out to complete the required
because a pipefitting crew but some staff members CenterPoint Energy's quali-
lacked proper training and and students were present. fications program and
wasn't fully authorized to The NTSB says the crew, had only been with Master
move a gas meter. working for Master Mechni- Mechanical about eight
The National Transporta- cal, mistakenly believed a months at the time of the
tion Safety Board released key valve was closed be- blast, the agency said.
its report Monday on the fore they started disassem- "The probable cause of the
explosion at Minnehaha bling the gas installation. natural gas explosion ... oc-
Academy that killed two According to the find- curred when a pipe fitting
people and injured nine In this Aug. 2, 2017 file photo, emergency workers respond to an ings, the two-person crew's crew disassembled piping
more at the private Chris- explosion at Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis. In this Aug. 2, foreman did not have the upstream of a gas service
tian school. 2017 file photo, emergency workers respond to an explosion at proper licensing and train- meter" that was off-limits
Workers for the natural gas Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis. ing "to work on the covered to the workers, the agency
supplier CenterPoint Ener- Associated Press tasks" associated with mov- said.q