HB 1326 - DIGEST

     Declares that school officials should be free to focus on the education of students and not on policing the student body.  At the request of school officials, it may sometimes be necessary for the criminal justice resource officer, who has received adequate training in safety and law enforcement, to take on the tasks of questioning or searching students, students' lockers, or students' possessions upon reasonable, individualized suspicion.

     Provides that a criminal justice resource officer may, at the request of the principal or vice principal, search a student, the student's possessions, and the student's locker, if the principal or vice principal has reasonable grounds to suspect that the search will yield evidence of the student's violation of the law, including but not limited to possession of a firearm on school grounds in violation of RCW 9.41.280 or 28A.600.420, and involvement in gang activity on school grounds in violation of RCW 28A.600.455.

     Provides that a criminal justice resource officer may make an investigative stop of a student if the officer has reasonable, articulable facts suggesting the student is armed and dangerous, possesses a firearm on school grounds in violation of RCW 9.41.280 or 28A.600.420, is involved in gang activity on school grounds in violation of RCW 28A.600.455, or otherwise poses an immediate threat to the officer or others in the school.