5th Circuit Court Concludes Raptor School Security Constitutional
Court Watch - POSTED: 2010/09/15 10:07
Court Watch - POSTED: 2010/09/15 10:07
Schools across the nation have the constitutional right to screen campus visitors against sex offender data bases and to scan government issued drivers licenses or identification cards using Raptor Technologies, Inc, according to a recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals.
5th Circuit Court
“The Plaintiffs have failed to show, as they must to prevail, that they have been deprived of a constitutional right,” wrote the honorable Jerry Smith, Jacques Wiener, and Jennifer Elrod of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (LA, MS, TX). “Raptor takes only the minimum information necessary to determine sex offender status, identify the visitor, and ensure the lack of false positives.”
The suit resulted from a dispute between a parent, and school officials at Bee Cave Elementary School in Texas. The parent was denied access to her children’s school activities after repeatedly refusing to provide her driver’s license or other identification when checking-in at the front office.
Raptor Technologies, Inc.
Raptor President and CEO, Allan Measom hopes school administrators everywhere will embrace this ruling and put student safety first. “Since our inception eight years ago, our focus has been to provide schools and facilities with an added layer of security while providing a consistent and impartial system to screen and record campus visitors,” said Measom.
“During the 2009-10 school year, our technology detected approximately 2,200 sex offenders trying to enter the more than 7,000 schools using Raptor. Affordable technology protects our children,” said Measom.
U.S. District Court
In the original ruling favoring Raptor’s effective security technology, U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks stated, “Parents must recognize that our educators are already overburdened, not only with the education of our children, but also with the regulations and bureaucratic responsibilities placed on them. In today’s crowded public schools, making exceptions to reasonable school policies for each and every parent who dislikes a school rule is unworkable and further distracts from a school’s primary purpose: education. Not only that, but in the educational world following the Columbine school shooting and the increased visibility of and sensitivity to sex offender, schools have not only an interest but a duty to take appropriate steps to protect our children while they are at school.”
Measom said thousands of schools nationwide have yet to integrate technology with school safety procedures. But from the schools where Raptor works, he said, “We appreciate all of the support from parents, school administrators, front desk personnel, security personnel and law enforcement officials who we work with on a daily basis.”
Contact:
Allan Measom, President & CEO Raptor Technologies, Inc.
www.raptorware.com