How a Lowcountry teacher is trying to change student perceptions of law enforcement - ABC NEWS 4
A Mount Pleasant Police Officer turned school teacher is using his experience to encourage the next generation of officers and attorneys.
But that’s only the beginning.
“There weren’t any lesson plans. There was no real curriculum,” said Jay Tronco, who teaches law enforcement at North Charleston High School. “So, the entire creation of the program has essentially been on me.”
For the last four years, Tronco has taught a trio of law enforcement courses as part of Charleston County School District’s Career and Technology Education program.
“(We teach) constitutional law, fourth and fifth amendment, but we also do a lot of hands-on things like we teach handcuffing, we teach basic baton use,” Tronco said. “A thank you to Charleston County Sheriff’s Department. They gave us an old police cruiser, and we’ll do mock traffic stops or we’ll do vehicle searches.”
Tronco has created a foundation for students looking to make a career in law enforcement.
However, he wants all his students to walk away with something more.
“One, how to deal with police if you have a police encounter, and two, to let them know that not all police are bad guys.”
Tronco said many of his students have committed a crime, been victims of a crime or have been a witness to a crime. He said many of his students associate dread with law enforcement, and not safety.
Now, it’s a narrative he’s working to change through education.
“I tell all of my students there are good cops, there are bad cops, and then there are cops that just don’t know any better,” Tronco said. “They don’t have the right amount of training or they don’t have the ethical background. If you’ve never had someone teach you right from wrong, how are you supposed to know what that is?”
Tronco has witnessed his student’s perceptions of law enforcement change the further they progress throughout the course, even his most hesitant students.
“Whether it was that kid that said he hated white cops or the girl that’s so argumentative in class but is so excited to come back and show me the list of questions she’s going to ask during her mock trial as the prosecutor,” Tronco said. “That’s so rewarding for me.”
Tronco is hopeful the success of the courses at NCHS will encourage other high schools to develop similar ones of their own. He said he has already been approached by a principal at another school to discuss expanding it beyond North Charleston.
source: https://abcnews4.com/news/local/enforce-to-educate-how-a-nchs-teacher-is-changing-student-perceptions-on-law-enforcement
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