Kiski Area students get real lessons from a real cop
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The mood was sober during Allegheny Township police Officer Charity Butz’s presentation Tuesday on the dangers and penalties for driving under the influence for a freshman health class at Kiski Area High School.
But the students perked up considerably when they wore goggles that simulate being drunk or under the influence of drugs — complete with futile attempts to walk a straight line or drive a small, four-wheeled scooter without wrecking into plastic cones.
That was the reaction Butz and school district officials were looking for in one of her many presentations of law enforcement issues in several Kiski Area classes.
As a full-time Allegheny Township police officer and the school district’s resource officer, not only is Butz an authoritative source, but she is a familiar face to students.
In the past several years, the district has integrated Butz into the classroom curriculum, including American history, English and health classes.
“It just seems like a natural fit to have a resource officer in the classroom who can deal with more than discipline issues,” said Dan Smith, Kiski’s supervisor of technology integration and support.
Who knows better about the search and seizure law and Fourth Amendment rights?
Spoiler alert: Students lose some of those Fourth Amendment rights when they walk into school.
And the physical effects of drinking too much or being high?
Again, your local police are all too familiar with that information, plus they have real-life stories to tell. Butz brought the dangers home, telling the tale of a 16-year-old Vandergrift girl who died at a birthday party where juveniles were drinking vodka and 151-proof rum.
“Do you know why the police want to see your eyes for a sobriety test?” Butz asked the class Tuesday.
No hands went up. Silence.
“Well, whether you drink or you are high, there is an involuntary movement of your pupils,“ she said. “There’s nothing you can do to stop it.”
Another little-known fact Butz brought out regards Pennsylvania’s Medical Amnesty Law. Under that law, if you report to police and emergency officials that someone is dangerously impaired, neither the caller nor the impaired victim will be prosecuted for consumption or possession of alcohol.
“Now, that applies to the person who called and the person who is impaired, but not for the other 49 people at the party,” Butz clarified for the crowd.
Again, lots of silence.
In addition to her presentation on DUI fines, which range into the thousands of dollars, and other scary information, Butz landed a $2,000 grant for the use of special equipment including Fatal Vision, those goggles that simulate impairment by alcohol or drugs.
“What you see is not what it appears to be,” said Hope McMasters, 14, a freshman from Vandergrift, who donned the goggles and teetered through the gym, bumping into the bleachers.
“I’ve always been a no-alcohol and no-drugs kind of person,” McMasters said, “but this pushed me down the column more.”