Tracy Mumford

From The New York Times, it's The Headlines.

I'm Tracy Mumford.

Today's Thursday, May 28th.

Here's what we're covering.

A new investigation from The Times looks at what has happened as more police officers have been hired at schools.

to keep students safe.

My colleagues, in partnership with the San Antonio Express News, looked at Texas specifically.

Back in 2022, the state was rocked by one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S.

history when a gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, killing 21 people.

The next year, lawmakers passed legislation requiring one licensed police officer at every public school, the most ambitious effort of its kind.

Now, Texas has more school district police departments than all other states put together.

Claire Amari is part of the team who dug through thousands of pages of police records and did hundreds of interviews with students, parents, teachers, and law enforcement officials in Texas to see how the influx of officers has played out.

The team found that while many people welcomed the police presence on campus, there were also many incidents where officers grabbed, tackled, or even used tasers on students, leading to injuries in extreme instances.

Some of these were captured on camera.

In all, the Times documented more than 2,600 individual cases in which school police officers in Texas used force in the last few years.

In one case, a 17-year-old honor student was accused of stealing a little classroom doorbell worth 13 bucks, which she says she accidentally knocked off the wall.

Still, an assistant principal called in the police.

And when she pulled away, they wrestled her to the ground.

Video footage shows her gasping for air for three minutes.

Her mugshot was later posted online, and she was so upset by the whole experience that she finished the school year online and skipped her graduation ceremony.