The Astonishing Reason a Police Officer Was Asked to Take Off His Uniform

Culture

It is common for parents to voice their concerns to school administrators about the safety of the campus, alerting officials to activity or people that they find suspicious or alarming. What happens, however, when parents notify administrators about their anxiety due to the sight of a police officer picking up his daughter from school?

This was the case in Mesa, Arizona, where parents, concerned with the prospect of the officer with a gun, were clearly made uncomfortable. School administrators, taking note of these concerns, approached the police officer, asking him to no longer wear his uniform on campus. But while the concerns of parents should always be considered, these particular concerns appear to be unsubstantiated.

Something seems off about this story. The presence of a police officer on school grounds is made alarming to other parents on account of firearms possession? It comes off like a conservative satire of the gun-control position: essentially nonsensical. Surely there has to be more to this story, right?

The officer in question, understandably upset at orders from the school, took to Facebook posting:

"Nothing like your kids school calling and asking if I could not come to pick up my daughter in uniform cause parents were concerned when their kids came home telling them there was a man at school with a gun. Are you freaking kidding me?"

Parents are always concerned for their kids, and it's not like police officers do not abuse their right to carry.But this is a story about a police officer taking and picking his daughter up from school. There does not appear to be anything regarding this officer's interactions with other parents that would perhaps lead to this action being taken by the school. This is not the case of an eccentric and unstable parent brandishing his firearm in the center of a school pick up line. As of right now, this appears to be the case of a police officer simply picking up his daughter to and from school while causing no trouble, and it's rather strange and unsettling that this has been found to be an issue.