Mission police reaffirm commitment to student safety, ask parents for help

Mission Assistant Chief Teodoro “Ted” Rodriguez speaks during a press conference to address threats made to schools at the Center for Education and Economic Development on Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024, in Mission. (Joel Martinez | jmartinez@themonitor.com)

MISSION — Police here, in partnership with other local law enforcement, held a press conference Thursday to reaffirm law enforcement’s commitment to keep students safe this coming school year and ask the assistance of parents in doing so.

Mission’s Assistant Chief Teodoro “Ted” Rodriguez was backed by representatives from local law enforcement agencies including the Texas Department of Public Safety and Border Patrol stating that the conference was warranted due to a series of recent events.

Rodriguez said that within the last two days there have been terroristic and bomb threats as well as a recent surge of swatting events.

“All these types of behaviors are behaviors we have experienced throughout our country in the last few years,” Rodriguez said. “And today, once again, we want to reaffirm our commitment to our communities that we will maintain the safety of every one of our students and and every one of our staff members.”

Rodriguez described these recent events as troubling. He said some were false alarms, but others were terroristic threats, one of which resulted in a student being detained for the offense.

The assistant chief went on to say that it’s important parents cooperate with law enforcement’s efforts in stopping these threats, whether they be real or false alarms.

“It is important for us that the parents have fairly important and impactful conversations with their children,” Rodriguez said. “We don’t take any of these threats lightly.

“These threats are not pranks. They’re not idle threats.”

Rodriguez reiterated that all law enforcement agencies have a strong commitment to “identify, to track and to apprehend anyone” who makes threats to a student or school.

He adds that their primary goal is to create an environment that fosters education, learning and growth.

Mission CISD’s Superintendent Dr. Cris Valdez added to Rodriguez’s sentiment that the school district will have zero tolerance for such behaviors.

“We won’t tolerate any online threats to our schools,” Valdez said. “It’s serious … We want to guarantee that our students are safe.”

Mission CISD Superintendent Cris Valdez speaks as the Mission Police Department holds a press conference at the Center for Education and Economic Development on Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024, in Mission. (Joel Martinez | jmartinez@themonitor.com)

Valdez added that everyone wants to foster a culture of safety, but that it’s not only up to law enforcement and school staff, it takes the whole community to work together to end these threats.

Consequences for making such threats could result in a student receiving a misdemeanor charge or even felony, Rodriguez said, depending on the severity of the crime.

Students who are found to be making threats would receive a threat assessment as well, which would follow them throughout their school career.

Rodriguez added that even posting or reposting threats on social media can lead to consequences as well.

“We will not take those lightly,” Rodriguez said.

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