Lots of talk at school board meetings and our community about the "playground to prison pipeline."
There were also incidents of cops who thought high school was a good place to find a date.
Looks like your SRO believed that "scared straight" bullshit.
In middle and high school I was constantly bullied and sometimes beaten bloody. The bullies called me "queerbait." The advice I got from some so-called "responsible adults" wasn't helpful. "Be a man!" wasn't yet in the cards for a skinny, squeaky, highly reactive kid who tended to blurt out whatever popped into his head, appropriate or not.
I quit high school for college at sixteen. I was good at taking multiple choice tests. I think the principal and other school administrators were happy to see me go. Other adults, who should have known better, claimed I'd be missing out on all the positive social development they experienced in high school. It probably would have killed me.
From high school and well into college my extreme obsession with computers and radio probably kept me out of any boy/girl trouble. I didn't have time for it.
Most of my own PTSD is from violence I experienced after high school, especially when I was taking forced time-outs from college. I have stories I don't tell here. At my lowest point I was living in my car in a church parking lot. I also have a knife scar on my arm that reminds me not to say the first thing that pops into my head, especially to someone who is holding a knife or a gun.
I had a surprisingly cordial relationship wit the police in college. I think they regarded me as an amusing diversion from their usual sordid duties.
But I'm always wary of cops I don't know. I've seen them shoot people I didn't think needed shooting. I've also had bad experiences with the police while traveling. Some of those stories I have told here.
One way I cope is by avoiding television and video news entirely -- whether it's posted here on DU or anywhere else. I've seen too much violence personally, I don't need to see any more on my TV or computer screens.
Psych meds are helpful too.
I don't know if my own stories make the world a better place, or if they are helpful to anyone else, but writing them down makes me feel better. I hope it's the same for you.
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