I teach 5th grade in an elementary school in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Los Angeles had a big time riot in 1992, when I was fifteen. The riot was so bad, they skipped the National Guard and went straight to the Army 7th Division at Ft. Ord, and the Marine 1st Division at Camp Pendleton. That riot is the biggest reason why the Los Angeles Police Department shut down all the gun shops in Los Angeles. Before the riots, we had over 50 gun shops. Now Los Angeles has ONE within the City Limits. You see, all the Megagangs took over 90% of the gun shops and issued long and short arms and ammo to all members. Anyway, the riots had a BIG impression on me, a 15 year old boy. I was shocked. So ever since, I keep a gun in my car. Also, because I am a teacher, kids leave their backpacks at the end of the year. So I have three kid’s backpacks in the back of my car, with food, water, spare clothes, toilet paper, blankets, a poncho, etc. In case we have a riot or something. And a gun, and some some. Ammo. The gun is a Winchester 9422 .22 Magnum. It is basically a scaled down .30/30 chambered for the .22 Magnum bullet. What is special about the gun is that with the twist of one screw, the gun breaks down into two pieces. So in one of the backpacks, I have the gun in two pieces, wrapped in a towel, tied with a shoelace. On the floor of the back seat of my car, I have one of those $100 pistol safes. Just big enough to hold one pistol and a couple clips. In the safe, I have some .22 Magnum ammo, and the bolt and the screw to the rifle.
So, at lunch, I was going into the office to check my box, and then head to the lunch room, when the Principal asked me into her office. Saw a whole bunch of school cops (Los Angeles Unified School District has its own police force). Oh. Not good. Anyway I was called into the office. Imagine my surprise when I saw one of the cops holding my backpack, and the towel with the gun in two pieces on my principal’s desk. I parked in the school lot, but that doesn’t give them the right to go through my car.
Well, long story short, it appears a male teacher at my school apparently is into pornography of children. The district somehow determined this, and decided to raid his house, car, room at school, computer, everything. And so they decided to ALSO search MY stuff. I have no connection to this guy. I hate the guy. In fact we have feuded for years. He makes fun of my service in the Army (MOS57E) because he was in the infantry, he is southern and conservative, and calls me "son" and that drives me nuts….In short we hate each other, and have nothing to do with each other. So I kept trying to ask why I got searched when HE got searched. They just kept saying vague things like "Well we had to cover all the bases." and "Well, put it out there, so we had to make sure you were OK." I think they were trying to say that because I am gay, and I taught at the same school, it was a logical assumption that I would be involved in any perversion that was going on. Or something. I don’t think this guy was into gay pornography. He always liked having girls work in his room, and he always liked to talk to young girls. I never saw him interacting with boys. So I don’t see any connection between this guy and me, but apparently THEY did and some judge did. So they made me open the safe with the bullets and the bolt and the screw. Then they told me I was in big trouble for having a gun on campus. I said the gun was taken down into pieces and if they could put it together THEN I was in big trouble. Apparently they didn’t connect that the bolt and screw went with my gun. The School Police sergeant messed with the rifle for a about a half minute, and then concluded that it was probably no hazard. They then asked to see my laptop. I bring my laptop to school because we use this thing teaching now called an ELMO. You can project whatever you want only the board. We project the math lesson from a laptop to the whiteboard to show graphics to teach the lesson. The guy asked if I had any pornography on my computer. I said "Yes." (Well it’s true) but what I have is all beefcake of big strong weigh lifting guys who are all obviously adults. I showed him. It was hidden on the computer. No kids. I assumed that I was going to be leaving in handcuffs. So I waited by myself in the empty Nurse’s office for about an hour. The Cop came in and said that because I "Was Honest,’ and "Came clean," with them they weren’t going to arrest me. The principal just gave me a memo to not bring a gun in my car if I were to park on on school property, and to not bring a laptop to school with any porn on it. Well, OK. But I still don’t think they had the right to search MY vehicle if they were going after some guy with child pornography, just because I happen to be gay.
PS. If it’s too long, don’t read it. No one is holding a gun to your head.
Jeff: Wrong. The law was 1000 feet of a school and the law was ruled unfair; it meant people who lived across the street from a school could not own guns.
I think they knew there was no connection between this guy and me, and that they knew the search would never hold up in court.
Winobot
Well what was the reason? A guy at my school was into child pornography, and therefore because I was gay, I was involved? That is not a reason to search my car.
Winobot
I have taken a look at my contract. I have a very strong Union (United Teachers Los Angeles). It has no mention of me waiving my 4th Amendment rights.
Rooster Pickens
Yes, in Los Angeles, your probation is three years, and after that you are "permanent" and tenured. Apparently the school police can buy universal lock picks for cars. The Car Companies sell them to cops.
To use the graphics which our new math program has and project it on the wall with an Elmo you need a laptop. Which the district DOES NOT provide. Sort of an unfunded mandate
It is my personal computer. I don’t feel a bit bad about having MY stuff on it. You need it to fully implement the math program, and the district is too cheap to buy us one.
Corey H
Wrong:
In the Gun Free School Zones Act of 1994, Congress made it a federal offense "for any individual knowingly to possess a firearm at a place that the individual knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, is a school zone." 18 U.S.C. ยง 922(q)(1)(A) (1988 ed., Supp. V). The Act neither regulates a commercial activity nor contains a requirement that the possession be connected in any way to interstate commerce. We hold that the Act exceeds the authority of Congress "[t]o regulate Commerce . . . among the several States . .
The search is improper, if not illegal. There is no probable cause to search your car. The search seems to be based more on your sexual orientation than any real reason to suspect you of possessing child porn. You may actually have grounds for a discrimination law suit.