2023 Emails Show Omaha Schools Knew of SRO Shock Gloves, Undercutting 2-Year Notification Dispute
Updated
Updated · KETV Omaha · Aug 20
2023 Emails Show Omaha Schools Knew of SRO Shock Gloves, Undercutting 2-Year Notification Dispute
3 articles · Updated · KETV Omaha · Aug 20
Summary
Jan. 24, 2023 emails obtained by KETV show Omaha Public Schools' safety supervisor was copied on notice that SROs at Bryan Middle and Bryan High already had shock gloves.
Those records bolster Omaha police Chief Todd Schmaderer's claim that OPD informed district leadership, while Superintendent Matthew Ray says he personally was never told and that the lapse exposed internal communication gaps.
OPS' safety supervisor replied in 2023 that the district viewed the gloves as a police tool, while Millard questioned whether they conflicted with school corporal-punishment policies; an OPD lieutenant said they could avoid taser or baton use.
The disclosure follows two glove deployments last year, including one at OPS' Integrated Learning Center where an SRO shocked a student for 1 second and then 2 to 3 seconds before the student was handcuffed.
The fight over notice comes as OPS says Omaha police agreed to remove the gloves from its schools, while Bellevue police still plan to let their school resource officers carry them.
Why did Omaha school leaders claim ignorance about shock gloves when police records show they were notified years before the controversial student incidents?
With Omaha banning shock gloves but neighboring police keeping them in shared schools, who truly controls the safety tools used on local students?
Are electroshock gloves a necessary safeguard against violent school altercations, or an inappropriate escalation of force hidden in bureaucratic loopholes?