Md. School Resource Officers React To Takedown Of S.C. Student

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The cell phone video of a South Carolina police officer tossing a student across a classroom continues to send shockwaves across the country. Now that officer is out of a job.

But school police here in Maryland are speaking out in support of what they do.

Gigi Barnett explains.

Baltimore County started its school resource officer program nearly 20 years ago. One officer has seen the shocking video. He says officers here in Maryland are trained to behave in a much different way.

Viral video cost South Carolina School Resource Officer Ben Fields his job. On it, he flips over a student's desk and manhandles her to the front of the room.

The takedown caused a national outcry from those supporting the officer, to those who say he went too far.

"That was just a bad situation," said School Resource Officer Donald Bridges.

Now other school resource officers are speaking out.

Officer Bridges has patrolled the halls of Franklin High School in Baltimore County for more than a decade. He says the first rule for a school resource officer, or SRO for short, may have been violated here--to develop a friendly relationship with the students first.

"With the relationship that you have with kids, they no longer see the uniform. They just see Officer Bridges," he said.

Officer Bridges is one of the Baltimore County's first SROs. They started the program back in 1997. He says back then, when the program began, everyone had to agree upon one thing--that SROs would not handle discipline.

"We spend a great deal of time just being a presence within the building. Oftentimes, that presence might not necessarily be for students, that's for outsiders," Officer Bridges said.

So, why have an officer at school? Bridges says it's not to rough up students. He says SROs should go through deep background checks and intensive training for the job with juveniles.

Plus, with cell phones always on, he says student resource officers have to be above reproach.

"Every action that you take is going to end up on somebody's video camera. So do what you do, but just know that we no longer live in a world where things are secret," said Officer Bridges.

As a result, Officer Bridges says all of Baltimore County's SROs receive training every year.

Meanwhile, federal investigators are getting involved in the South Carolina case to see if more charges are on the way for the officer involved.

The officer in the video, Ben Fields, has hired an attorney, who says his client acted lawfully.