School Policy on Police Questioning Tightened : Moorpark: In non-emergencies, officers will now have to give an hour’s notice before arriving on campus.

In response to complaints from two parents, the Moorpark school board has tightened its policy on permitting interviews of students by police officers on campuses.

The new district rules require that officers in non-emergency situations give schools in the district an hour’s notice so parents can be present when students are questioned.

“This is going to rattle their cage a little bit,” board member Tom Baldwin said Tuesday, referring to the Moorpark Police Department. “By doing this at our end, we are saying that we think the services of the police are vital, but they need to rethink what they are doing.”

Moorpark Police Chief Richard Rodriguez said Wednesday that his department would work with the school district’s new policies, but could not comment fully on the board’s action without a review.

“If it’s not practical, we’ll proceed with another method of accommodation,” Rodriguez said.

Scott Pozza told the board that he was not notified by Chaparral Middle School administration before his son was pulled out of his eighth-grade class several months ago by a police officer.

The youngster was questioned about a fire in a field three or four weeks after the incident had occurred. The experience was a negative one, Pozza said, adding that the esteem that the Moorpark DARE program had instilled in his son about police was destroyed because of the incident.

“They are doing a great job with the DARE program,” Pozza said, “and the Police Department cuts it down in 10 minutes.”

Albert Prieto, a former Moorpark councilman and guardian of a nephew who attends Moorpark High School, complained to the board that five students were pulled out of class by police last week because they were suspects in a house robbery that happened several days earlier.

Prieto said the school administration allowed the questioning without any effort to notify parents or guardians. He learned of the questioning when another relative who attends the school called him.

The students were separated so there could be no collaboration and then read their rights. “They were put up against a wall with officers on each side. It was a direct interrogation.” Prieto said.

“We did not do anything improper,” Rodriguez said. “We used a tactic if you will, which was not done to his (Prieto’s) convenience.”

In addition to an hour’s notification by police that they will be arriving on campus, the board policy states that interviews can begin only when parental permission has been granted. It says the interview will be delayed until a parent or guardian arrives, if that is their wish.

The board, however, made an exception to the new policy of parent notification for cases of alleged child abuse, where the parent or guardian are suspects.

In hashing out the policy, which will be reviewed March 13, board members were concerned about relations with the Police Department when officers might be called on campus for emergency reasons.

Rodriguez said his department would attempt to work with the school in those situations, but said there could be problems if police need to conduct an investigation and have to wait an hour while parents are called.

“It would be impractical to conduct such an investigation if we have to wait an hour,” Rodriguez said. “That’s not the best use of manpower. We’ve always tried to work within the parameters of the school and not impact the school environment any more than we have to, but that’s not a requirement on our part.”