City / County officials plan memorial for Texas shooting victims, County-wide school closures, County Revisits Police Service Laws :: {fictional news article}

 

• The following is a fictional news article intended for story building and writing practice use only.  None of the following is meant to be true, factual,  political, or taken as gospel.

 

SOUTHSTAR GLEN ::
    Citizens county-wide have reacted to the tragic shootings throughout the USA in the past few weeks. Local city officials have decided to restructure Southstar Glen's City Memorial Day parade to act as a memorial for the victims of the most recent Texas shootings of Uvalde.

"We know tensions have rekindled with anger against law enforcement, but we stand with the victim's families and our community," said Deputy McGrew of the Southstar County office. Agencies from all over the state will offer units for the memorial that will follow the Memorial Day parade this Sunday and continue from Main street onward to State Hwy 71. Then the officers and deputies will travel to Uvalde to present the community with a $150,000 community outreach donation.

Schools across Southstar County also closed for an early extension to the Memorial Day holiday. Bill Zent, President of Southstar Glen School District, stated the extension allowed families time to process and talk about the events in Texas. Southstar Glen School District also has been meeting this week on bylaw updates and revised safety protocols. "Our schools will always be our priority of safety," stated Mr. Zent.

Currently, Southstar Glen schools utilize a standardized armed intruder protocol used by most U.S. school districts. New measures may see added resource officers, intruder alarmed doors with automatic unlocking, and scan card entry of students & faculty.

"We understand that locked doors were the initial hindrance at Uvalde. We believe in a locked school during the session. Yet we also recognize our 20-year-old school buildings are prone to problems with that safeguard. Our grounds crews have been wiring doors this week with single activation panic unlocks if an intruder breaches a building or any internal incident." Mr. Zent explained.

County officials also had the task of reviewing the progress of Police Service laws enacted last year. Head county leaders noted that the results were astonishing yet concerningly retrospective. "We are seeing great strides in numbers, which makes us all concerned about how wrong we once were," he said.

Police complaints were down 37%, and Use of Force investigations were over 40% in reductions. Citizen ratings of their police system have also been more positive. With positive news came negative news as the review also noted three new officer harassment cases, which resulted in the termination of the officers from duty. "We have committed to our new Moto of Service before Honor. All three officers willingly forfeited their badge," noted Kerry Stein of County Officer relations.

The Memorial Day parade will start on Main Street of Southstar Glen on Sunday at 11 am with a Veteran's concert in the park at 5 pm Sunday.

05/26/2022...  Southstar Daily Times