Direct questions Ari Flashcards
(42 cards)
Please state your name to the court.
Ari Nowak
What is your current occupation?
I have been working as a school Resource Officer, commonly referred to as an SRO, for Cardinal County School District for the last five years and I have been assigned to Trillium High School for the last three years.
What past occupations have you had?
I am a police officer with the Harmony Police Department and have served the City of Harmony for the last 10 years. I have also worked as a detective full-time with Harmony PD before transferring within the police department to take on the position I hold now.
And what education have had in the field of criminal justice?
I have an undergrad degree in criminal justice.
Could you explain to the court some of the differences between a typical Police Officer and an SRO?
There is a little more training in becoming an SRO, but not much more than a traditional officer for Harmony. Being an SRO involves more than training for investigation purposes. A larger part of my job is being a good mentor for the children so that they feel comfortable coming to me when they need help. Overall, my job is to make Trillium High School a safe, secure, and orderly place for students, teachers, and staff.
Present Exhibit E
Your honor, we are presenting what has been previously established as Exhibit E, which is a five-page document. Let the record reflect that I am showing a clear and unmarked copy of Exhibit E to opposing counsel. Your honor, may I approach the witness?
Mrs. Nowak, I am showing you what has been marked as Exhibit E. Do you recognize that exhibit?
I do.
Could you explain to the court what it is that you are looking at?
This is the SRO Memorandum of Understanding that is held between the Cardinal County Public School District and the Harmony Police Department that employs me.
Taking a closer look at this document, could you please refer to section 5, titled “SRO Training”, and tell the court a little bit about what training is required of you while acting as an SRO?
I attend a minimum of twelve training hours per year where I receive ongoing professional development in child and adolescent development, conflict resolutions, and diversion strategies.
Can you elaborate on what some of the differences are between a school administrator and an SRO?
While students don’t check their rights at the door, a school administrator isn’t a police officer, and therefore they aren’t held to the same standard that law enforcement is when questioning a child.
So how do you handle that being employed by both the school and by a police department?
As an SRO, balancing that status as a person employed by the school and a person employed by the state is an important part of our training, to the kids while also protecting both the school and the general public.
And why is that important?
Our training stresses making sure that the student knows that they are free to leave, otherwise as an SRO, we must go through the proper steps of Mirandizing the student. It’s important to follow proper procedures to both protect the kids and make sure no one gets off on a technicality due to bad investigation practices.
Were you working as an SRO at Trillium on September 9th, 2022?
Yes, I was.
Can you tell the court if there were any extra job duties slated for you on that day?
There was a scheduled Alumni breakfast for that day which would allow non-students in the building. The district wanted me there in case something happened with the government officials and new anchors that were expected to attend.
And did something end up happening at the Breakfast that day?
It wasn’t until I heard Dean Silva yell about something being wrong with the eggs that I learned that the food had been tampered with. I went to the kitchen to see if everything was ok, but when I arrived the Dean had already figured out that it was an exploding candy incident and all the food had to be thrown away.
Was the situation deemed serious enough for you to respond within your power as an SRO immediately?
At the time, the situation was found to be serious, but not so serious that it would be threatening enough to evacuate the school and escalate the situation. There wasn’t a lot for me to do on the day the incident actually occurred.
To your knowledge, were there leads on a suspect immediately following the incident?
Well, once things calmed down, I was able to speak with Dean Silva to figure out if we had any leads on who the perpetrator or perpetrators might be, but no one immediately jumped out as a suspect.
And what happened after this conversation with Dean Silva?
I was able to continue with my usual SRO duties: going through the halls, interacting with students, and monitoring for any suspicious behavior or activity.
At what point did you become involved with this situation after the initial incident?
On September 12th, which would have been the Monday following the fiasco, Dean Silva, Rowan Tesfaye, a student named Blair Georgiu, and I met to discuss the Exploding Candy incident and the fallout that occurred as a result of it.
What was discussed at this meeting?
At first, it was more general, discussing what to do with leftover silent auction items, how to recoup from the cost of the event, and if other fundraising events could be planned for later in the year. Blair brought up some questions about tracking down the person who did the prank and whether or not this was something that could lead to criminal charges.
And do you remember what your response was to Blair’s questions?
I do. I explained to them that based on the information we currently had, there wasn’t enough to launch a formal investigation, but depending on what was found out, the police could investigate it more thoroughly and might be able to charge the perpetrator with a number of crimes.
At what point were you made aware that a potential suspect had been identified?
On September 15th, before school started, Blair dropped by Dean Silva’s office to tell them that they believed another student, Stevie Kahn, was possibly involved in the breakfast incident.
Were you immediately made aware of why Stevie Khan had been identified as a potential suspect?
Not necessarily. Dean Silva has a lot of duties in the morning, as we start the school day, so I did offer to talk with Stevie. Dean Silva was the one overseeing the Exploding Candy incident and relayed to me that they would like to talk with Stevie as well, so I followed their lead and continued my normal SRO duties throughout the rest of the morning and into the afternoon.
To your knowledge, was Dean Silva able to make contact with Stevie that day?
Yes! At around 1:30 p.m. later that day, Dean Silva brought Stevie down for questioning.
What were you doing when Stevie Khan was being questioned?
I was in the administrative office making some copies back and forth to the SRO office when the questioning began.
