Story Archive

That’s Not How This Works

“Please ask your guests not to call out, cheer, whistle, or applaud during the reading of names and presentation of diplomas,” said a slide shown to students not long before Greenville, S.C., High School’s graduation. “The Citation for Family Members yelling out is $1,030.” A school district spokeswoman said such citations weren’t the district’s or school’s policy: graduation “is held at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena,” and “Greenville Police have the authority to cite and/or fine people in the audience who create a disturbance or disruption.” But police spokesman Sgt. Jonathan Bragg was having none of it. “Screaming somebody’s name or congratulating them, that’s not a police matter,” he said. It’s not even an officer’s role to ask someone to leave, Bragg said; that’s for the arena staff. (AC/Greenville News) ...Teaching about the limited role of the police in a free society isn’t supposed to be the department’s job either, but sometimes it has to be.