High school students in four Texas County communities participated late last week and early this week in the second annual Constitution Project, a program that provides a first-hand look at what it’s like to work in several areas of the country’s criminal justice system.
While the inaugural Project featured only students from Houston High School, this year’s version has been expanded to include kids from all Texas County school districts. As a result, enactments of incidents and investigations took place Friday in both Cabool and Houston, and were staged Monday in Summersville and Tuesday in Licking.
The scene students dealt with in Houston featured a mock shooting after a land deal gone bad at Texas County Title on Grand Avenue. Students posing as police secured the scene, questioned several witnesses and one suspect, and searched for and processed evidence. Other students acted as medical examiners, and still others as members of the press.
Prior to the enactment, students had been mentored by professionals from each occupational field about what to expect at the scene and how to handle their roles. Many participating students said the actual experience proved to be more involved than any description or instruction, including junior Taylor Franklin, who was acting as a sergeant for the Houston Police Department.
“I’ve learned that it’s complicated and stressful and you have to be very observant and pay a lot of attention to detail,” Franklin said. “And you have to be careful what you say to the press so you don’t give them too much information.”
Franklin said receiving instruction from Chief Jim McNiell and Sgt. Tim Ceplina of the Houston Police Department prior to the enactment and having them alongside during the mock scene made her job easier.
“It was good to hear them describe about how they handle being in a stressful situation,” she said. “And it’s good to know they’re there while we deal with the actual incident. It’s very helpful to have them tell us what we did wrong or right, so we know what to do next time.”
Being involved in the project has exposed Franklin to something that could become a major part of her future.
“I really like being in the law enforcement end of it all,” she said, “but after seeing what medical examination people do, I think that’s something I might want to try doing next year. That looks like something I would probably be interested in doing as a career.”
Constitution Project organizer and associate circuit judge Doug Gaston said it’s important that Franklin and other young people the chance to get a close look at occupational opportunities within the criminal justice system.
“That’s a big part of what this is all about – opening a young person’s eyes to something they truly love doing, and maybe didn’t know even know it,” Gaston said. “And having all these professionals giving of their time to assist only makes it that much better.
“But maybe the most import aspect of this project is making sure these students are aware of the fact that all of our rights were given to us by our Creator, and the Constitution was designed to protect those rights. Whether it’s someone in law enforcement, the press or any other field that has a part in it, there are a lot of people who do a lot of things to help insure that protection. And whether it’s an accused criminal or anyone else, it’s critical that our rights be protected, because as soon as we loose sight of that, every right all of us have will be in jeopardy.”
The next phase of the project is set for Dec. 5, when students from each district acting as courtroom personnel will take part in a trial competition at the Texas County Justice Center.