School officials, sheriff’s office at odds

School officials, sheriff’s office at odds over investigation:

Statute: Sex crimes should be reported to law enforcement


By JEFF FISHER
jfisher@cherokeescout.com


Murphy – The internal investigation led by Murphy High School Principal Jerry Brackett into an alleged sexual offense involving chemistry teacher Lonnie Oliver is gaining the scrutiny of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office.
Under N.C. General Statute 115C-288, when a principal learns that an act resulting in sexual assault or sexual offense occurs on school property, “the principal shall immediately report the act to the appropriate local law enforcement agency.”
No such action was taken by Brackett after an allegation was made by a female student on Jan. 25 regarding the behavior of Oliver. Nearly two months later on March 22, the incident in question resulted in Oliver’s arrest on a charge of sexual battery.
“Anytime any allegations are made, they need to be checked out first,” Brackett said. “That’s what happened.”
According to Cherokee County Schools attorney Ellen Davis, Brackett “reacted within the hour” of the complaint, removing the student from Oliver’s class and discontinuing all contact between both parties.
“I feel like allegations of crime should be investigated by trained officers of law enforcement,” Sheriff Keith Lovin said. “I think the law is clear,” he added, referring to G.S. 115C-288.
“I did not turn it over to law enforcement after my investigation,” Brackett said, electing not to elaborate on his reasons because the school is still investigating what happened.
A principal is trusted with “a lot of authority to investigate an allegation,” Cherokee County Schools Superintendent Jeanette Hedrick said. “And an allegation is not a crime.”
Lovin, however, contends that his office might be better equipped to judge what constitutes a crime and what does not.
“I wouldn’t be so presumptuous as to think that I’m more qualified than our school officials to administer our children’s education,” Lovin said, adding that requests from Murphy High for the sheriff’s office’s services “have been sparse at best.”
Oliver’s case has revealed conflicting perspectives between school officials and the sheriff’s office on investigative techniques and interpretations of the law that policy change may be able to reconcile.
“Here’s a certainty: You cannot make any policy that supersedes the law,” Lovin said.
If the lines of jurisdiction have been blurred, school board Chairman David Ackerman wants to clear them of any confusion.
“It would be better to err on the side of caution for the safety of everyone if we got law enforcement involved as soon as possible,” Ackerman said. “Let’s make it so law enforcement has to be involved. ... Any of these physical-type things, I think they should be reported right away. I think that’s in the school’s best interest.”
The victim of the alleged offense, which Lovin described as “unwanted contact in the form of touching,” no longer attends Murphy High. Her former teacher, Oliver, was suspended on March 23.

I would think that the county SRO's (School Police) would, or should have the authority to investigate any allegations, or alleged crimes. The SRO's are certified by the state of North Carolina as police officers. SRO's go through the same police academy, any possibly have more training than any sheriff's deputy when it comes to issues of children and crime. If the SRO's can not investigate this alleged crime with the same authority that a deputy can, than they should do away with the SRO program. What good is a state certified SRO, if he, or she has NO authority to investigate? My feelings from everything I have been reading about this sheriff through that past several years, is that he wants complete control. Sheriff's Lovin sounds to me like a control freak!

SRO's do have authority I believe!