After Friday’s release of body camera footage of the arrest of 14 year old Rockell Baldwin, the Winston-Salem Urban League remains concerned about the Winston-Salem Police Department and Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools’ approach to policing in schools.
While Officer McCormick states that Ms. Baldwin was ultimately arrested for disorderly conduct related to a fight, the footage suggests that no fight took actually place.
James Perry, Winston-Salem Urban League CEO, said, “Schools are intended to provide a caring learning environment for children as they mature. It is understood that children will stumble while on the path to adulthood. If the new standard is one in which childhood stumbles are confronted with the full and often violent force of the law, then we serve only to harm children who most need the comfort and encouragement of a loving school environment. School resource officers should act as emergency responders and leave teaching and school discipline to teachers.”
We urge an unbiased review of Officer McCormick’s actions and a community-wide review and re-evaluation of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools’ and the Winston-Salem Police Department’s policies around school resource officers.