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76 Tenn. L. Rev. 211 (2008-2009)
Constitutional Law - Searches, Seizures, &(and) Confessions - Constitutional Protections for Students in Public Schools

handle is hein.journals/tenn76 and id is 213 raw text is: CONSTITUTIONAL LAW-SEARCHES, SEIZURES, & CONFESSIONS-CONSTITUTIONAL PROTECTIONS FOR STUDENTS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS R.D.S. v. State, 245 S.W.3d 356 (Tenn. 2008). I. INTRODUCTION R.D.S., the defendant, and G.N., were high school students.I While at school, G.N. was suspected of being under the influence of some type of intoxicating substance and was taken to the [vice principal's] office.2 As part of the investigation, the vice principal requested that a school resource 34 officer (SRO) come to his office to speak to G.N.4 The SRO was employed as a law enforcement officer in Williamson County, Tennessee.5 In the vice principal's office, the SRO noticed that G.N. appeared to be 'very sleepy or groggy, and his eyes were really bloodshot.'6 The SRO asked him what he had taken, and he responded that he had drunk a quarter bottle of. . . cough syrup before coming to school.7 The SRO doubted that G.N.'s behavior was induced by cough syrup because school had started several hours earlier, and she thought the effects of cough syrup would have worn off.8 G.N. was absent from several of his morning classes, so the SRO asked where he had been.9 G.N. confessed that he had spent the morning in the parking lot in a truck belonging to the defendant. 1. R.D.S. v. State, 245 S.W.3d 356, 360 (Tenn. 2008). 2. Id. 3. Throughout the discussion, the term school resource officer (SRO) will be used. An SRO, in broad terms, is a law enforcement officer who is assigned to work in a school on a regular basis and sometimes has duties beyond law enforcement, such as teaching classes. Paul Holland, Schooling Miranda: Policing Interrogation in the Twenty-First Century Schoolhouse, 52 Loy. L. REV. 39, 39 (2006). As Holland has noted, Walking the halls of America's public schools today, one should not be surprised to see a police officer. Id. A detailed analysis of SRO programs is beyond the scope of the discussion here; however, excellent descriptions of such programs can be found in Michael Pinard, From the Classroom to the Courtroom: Reassessing Fourth Amendment Standards in Public School Searches Involving Law Enforcement Authorities, 45 ARIZ. L. REv. 1067 (2003), and in Andrea G. Bough, Note, Searches and Seizures in Schools: Should Reasonable Suspicion or Probable Cause Apply to School Resource/Liaison Officers?, 67 UMKC L. REV. 543 (1999). 4. R.D.S., 245 S.W.3d at 360. 5. Id. 6. Id. 7. Id. 8. Id. 9. Id. 10. Id.