The police division that serves the Uvalde, Texas, faculty district has been suspended, officers stated Friday, greater than 4 months after a mass taking pictures claimed the lives of 19 college students and two academics. The choice was made amid a number of ongoing investigations into the division and its response to the lethal Could 24 rampage at Robb Elementary.
Anne Marie Espinoza, the chief director of communications and advertising for the Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased Faculty District (UCISD), wrote in an announcement that the division was suspended resulting from "current developments" that "uncovered further issues with division operations."
These officers who serve on the UCISD police power will "fill different roles throughout the district," she added. Two officers throughout the division — Lt. Miguel Hernandez and Ken Mueller — have been positioned on administrative depart. Mueller subsequently determined to retire, in line with Espinoza.
Whereas the police division is suspended, the Texas Division of Public Security will present troopers to make sure scholar and school security in Uvalde colleges.
"We're assured that workers and scholar security is not going to be compromised throughout this transition," Espinoza stated.
A number of outdoors teams are nonetheless conducting opinions of the UCISD police division, which has confronted heavy criticism for the reason that day of the taking pictures.
In July, a damning report cited "egregiously poor determination making" by regulation enforcement officers who waited greater than an hour earlier than confronting the 18-year-old gunman. The campus police chief, Pete Arredondo, was fired in August.
And on Thursday, a former Texas state trooper who was employed to serve the UCISD after the taking pictures was fired. Crimson Elizondo was amongst greater than 90 state troopers — and almost 400 regulation enforcement officers in all — who rushed to Robb Elementary through the bloodbath however waited greater than an hour to confront a gunman with an AR-15-style rifle taking pictures inside a fourth-grade classroom.
Espinoza stated Tuesday the district is working with the Texas Police Chiefs Affiliation, which is conducting a evaluation and can "information the rebuilding of the division and the hiring of a brand new Chief of Police," she stated. The report is due this month.
In the meantime, the UCISD police division's response to the taking pictures stays below investigation. "Outcomes of the investigation will inform future personnel choices," Espinoza stated.
"The District stays dedicated to resolving points with verifiable proof," she added.