Wake County Sheriff October 3, 2016 Mr. Paul Blest INDYweek Dear Mr. Blest, In response to your September 28, 2016 public records request my staff asked the custodian of our records to provide the following information: © Alle-mails between me and Mr. Bright over the past five years, ‘+ Alle-mails between me and Tami Fitzgerald over the past five years, “Any e-mails, memos, correspondence of any kind etc.-basically anything you have that’s public record-regarding transgender issues at schools or between the Wake County Sheriff's Office and the Wake County Public School System- over the past six months.” From our records we have been able to establish a timeline of the e-mail exchanges. Other than the e-mails set forth below, there are no other e-mails between me and Mr. Bright, or me and Tami Fitzgerald. In fact, there is no direct e-mail communication between me and Tami Fitzgerald; it appears. that | was only “blind-copied” on an e-mail sent by Mr. Bright to Tami Fitzgerald. On September 24, 2016 at 6:44 am, Melvin Bright submitted an e-mail request through the Wake County Sheriff's Office website. This request was automatically routed to Major Roger Hawley. At 8:07 am on September 24, 2016 Major Hawley forwarded Mr. Bright’s website feedback form submission to me. | replied to Mr. Bright by e-mail on September 24, 2016 at 11:18 am. This e-mail string was previously provided to INDYweek on September 28, 2016 pursuant to your September 26, 2016 request. On September 24, 2016 at 12:18 pm Mr. Bright e-mailed me. Mr. Bright attached a copy of a WRAL article to this e-mail; this attachment is included in the attachment below. (Attachment 1) On September 24, 2016 at 12:24 pm Mr. Bright e-mailed me and attached several copies of News articles. This e-mail and attachments are attached below. (Attachment 2) ‘On September 28, 2016 at 9:11 am Mr. Brighte-mailed me. This e-mail is attached below. My name does not appear in the e-mail header because | was “blind-copied” on this e-mail. An identical e- ‘mail was identified when the custodian of the records searched for e-mails from Tami Fitzgerald. (attachment 3) P.O. Box 550 Donnie Harrison Raleigh, NC-27602 919.856.6900Turning to your request for “Any e-mails, memos, correspondence of any kind etc.-basically anything you have that’s public record-regarding transgender issues at schools or between the Wake County Sheriff's Office and the Wake County Public School System- over the past six months,” lam providing the following: ‘* Aredacted copy of a memo generated on September 8, 2016. This memo was redacted to remove any identifiers that could potentially identify any student, parent, staff member, or school. Communications made by legal advisors for the Wake County Sheriff’ Office are also redacted. (Attachment 4) ‘© September 16, 2016 letter from me to all Wake County Public Schools Middle Schoo! Principals, and the Principal of East Wake High School. These are the schools served by the Wake County Sheriff's Office School Resource Officers. Thisletter was hand delivered to each applicable principal, and to-date no response has been received. (Attachment 5) '* September 21, 2016 letter from WCPSS Superintendent Dr. James Merrill to WCPSS School Resource Officers. (Attachment 6) My September 22, 2016 statement. (Attachment 7) E-mail from Lt. Simmons to WCSO school resource officers dated September 20, 2016 (attachment 8) Please allow me to reiterate my two main positions on this issue; the lack of a uniform and consistent policy for all the schools in the WCPSS system, and the lack of parental knowledge. I want a uniform and consistent policy so our school resource officers can fairly and discreetly address any concerns that are brought to their attention. We routinely rotate school resource officers among the various schools to accommodate sick leave, vacation, court appearances, etc. Having a Uniform policy in place would have prevented the unacceptable outburst by the principal that brought this issue to light. Had my deputy known of the change in policy at that school, she would have not been chastised by the principal for asking questions. Having a uniform policy in place would actually help to protect student's privacy. With a policy in place, a deputy would not be put in the position of making inquiry that would be embarrassing to the student or violate their privacy. Can you image the outcry if a deputy stood idly by and took no action because he was afraid to ask questions and did not know what the policy was when a non-transgender male was in the female locker room for some improper purpose? My deputies are responsible for protecting the rights and safety of all students, and if they are armed with appropriate information they can properly and effectively do their job. {also strongly believe that if the schools had a policy in place, transgender students and their parents would be more comfortable and willing to come forward. How else would they know what their rights are if we don’t have a policy in place? ‘The Wake County School System has taken the position that they don’t want to adopt a system- wide policy until this issue is resolved in the courts. Tris is problematic for several reasons. Litigation on this matter will likely take years. Under the current law, generally schools must treat transgender students consistent with their gender identity. What prevents the school system from adopting a policy consistent with this law? When, and if, the law changes the policy can be amended. Ultimately the courts could uphold the current state of the law and rio amendment to the policy would be necessary. This situation occurs with law enforcement issues on a regular basis. As the courts interpret the laws; our policies are amended to reflect the courts interpretation. Policies are always subject to review and revised as the law evolves. Recently agencies across the fourth circuit, including the Wake County Sheriff's Office, adjusted their Taser policies as a result of the Armstrong v. Village of Pinehurst case.Presently law enforcement agencies are adjusting policies to comply with the recent changes in laws dealing with the release of body cam and dash cam video. The school board's “wait and see” attitude fn this isue is a disservice to the students they serveand parents that elected them. The other concern that I have is the lack of parental knowledge of the issue. As you see in the September 8, 2016 memo, there seems to be a deliberate attempt by the school system to not inform the parents. My position has been consistent; | want the parents to know so they can privately discuss the issue with their children. As a parent, grandparent, and your elected Sheriff, | believe that ALL parents deserve to be informed of the issues in the sc1ool. This can be accomplished discreetly and in a manner that protects the rights and identity of the students. | also want to address my statements about removing the school resource officers from the schools. First and foremost, | will not leave a school unprotected. Currently the Wake County Sheriff's Office provides school resource officers to 20 Wake County Middle Schools and one High School. Every middle school served by the Wake County Sheriff's Office is located in a jurisdiction served by another municipal law enforcement agency. East Wake High Sthoolis the only school that we provide schoo! resource officers to that is in an unincorporated part of the county. | have publicly stated for years that | wanted to stop providing school resource officers and pass it on to the appropriate municipal agencies. My recent comments are not a new knee-jerk reaction; they are a restatement of an established position that has been aggravated by the mistreatment of a deputy and my frustration with a school board that is unwilling to formulate a much needed policy. | can assure you that | am committed to providing school resource officers, and if | decide to remove them they will be removed only when a transition can be made to another law enforcement azency. Finally, | want to address the accusations that my position on this issue is politicelly motivated. | have said from the beginning that my position is not olitically motivated. If you look at my response to Mr. Bright on September 24", you will see that is the ‘rst thing | say. My position is from my heart as a father, grandfather, and your Sheriff. It can just as easily be argued that the silence and inaction of the school board is politically motivated. My request for a policy is nothing new to the schoo! board. In fact, earlier this year WRAL reported that transgender students and their supporters were seeking a policy. (Attachment 9) The courageous public statements of those students went unanswered by the school board. One can only imagine that those students were motivated to make the schools safer and better for other students. And the school board did nothing, Why? Sincerely, la, Donnie Harrison