American Police Beat: January 2018 25 Chicago police investigate a report of a person shot in Chicago recently. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/TNS via Getty Images) I f you read Ameri- can Police Beat, you might have seen a story recently where several law en- forcement officials were cut out of access to secu- rity cameras in a local jail system. Now in Tennessee, ac- cess to security feeds has again created conflict. Grundy County Sheriff Clint Shrum says the Di- rector of Schools, Jessie Kinsey, has banned his deputy, an SRO at the school, from being able to look at footage from the security cameras at Grun- dy County High School. “It may be legal, but when that happened yes- terday they took a piece of public safety equip- ment out of access of law enforcement,” Shrum told reporters with News Channel 9. The loss of access to the security cameras was unannounced. The SRO recently went into his office and noticed that the surveillance mon- itors were gone, Sheriff Shrum says. The monitors had been moved to the principal’s office and the SRO was told he now needed the principal’s permission to look at security feeds. “Now the ability to ob- tain evidentiary informa- tion by law enforcement has been taken away from us,” said Sheriff Shrum. So why all the hubbub? It turns out that five of the high school’s football players are accused of at- tempted aggravated rape, but it’s unclear if school cameras captured eviden- tiary material. Schools director Kinsey released the following statement after the scan- dal broke. “The law outlines dis- tinct differences between school system respon- sibilities and those of law enforcement. The SRO is an employee of the Sheriff’s office and not an employee of the school system. Therefore, the SRO’s access to the camera monitors is set to view only. “The principals of each school are the only school employees who have full access to the camera sys- tem. If the SRO needs to review any video, he will need to get permis- sion from the principal to do so. “With regards to ac- cessing the camera sys- tem from off campus, the school board attorney ad- vised that only the school principals needed remote access to the school cam- era system. “The principal and I plan to meet with the sher- iff next week to discuss more specific reasons for changing the SROs access to the camera system.” Access denied! ★ www.bostonleather.com Chemical Holders Baton Holders Handcuff Cases Badge Holders • BOSTON LEATHER SELLS TO DEALERS ONLY • Fine Leather Belts and Accessories Crafted with Pride In the USA 1801 Eastwood Drive Sterling, IL 61081 Phone (800) 733-1492 Fax (800) 856-1650 600 700 400 Crafted with Pride Sam Browne Belt 6501-3 (Basketweave) Off Duty Belt 6580-1 (Plain) Garrison Belt 6505-1 (Plain) Off Duty Belt 6582-2 (Clarino) Off Duty Belt Off Duty Belt 2.25” 1.75” 1.5” 1.25” Visit us in Las Vegas Jan 23-26, 2018 Booth #15364