A cop's decision to sport a body camera and search a Massachusetts middle school for a book has raised serious concerns among civil liberties experts, a new report shows.
The Berkshire Eagle reported Wednesday on mounting fears after the Great Barrington plainclothes police officer who entered an eighth grade classroom at W.E.B. Du Bois Regional Middle School.
“Police going into schools and searching for books is the sort of thing you hear about in communist China and Russia," Ruth A. Bourquin, senior and managing attorney for the ACLU of Massachusetts, told the local news outlet. "What are we doing?”
For their part, police say they were obligated to investigate a complaint about the book "Gender Queer" by Maia Kobabe, a memoir about gender identity that contains sexually explicit illustrations and language, the report notes.
"It is this that many in LGBTQIA+ community say they believe is the reason for the censorship — not so-called “obscenity” concerns," writes reporter Heather Bellow.
But Great Barrington Police Chief Paul Storti said in a statement, “Because this complaint was made directly to the police department, we are obligated and have a duty to examine the complaint further."
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Berkshire Hills Regional School District Superintendent Peter Dillon said in a statement that he wished the situation was handled in a different way.
“I would have preferred that the complaint came to the school or district and not the police,” Dillon said. “We have systems to respond to concerns about curriculum.”
In a letter to parents this Tuesday, Dillon and School Committee Chair Stephen Bannon apologized for how the incident was handled, according to the report.
“Faced with an unprecedented police investigation of what should be a purely educational issue, we tried our best to serve the interests of students, families, teachers, and staff,” the letter stated. “In hindsight, we would have approached that moment differently. We are sorry. We can do better to refine and support our existing policies. We are committed to supporting all our students, particularly vulnerable populations.”
Read the full report at The Berkshire Eagle.