Max Chantha | October 27, 2015
MISSISSIPPI – School resource officers – policeman assigned to protect vulnerable children at their schools – have been making headlines recently for their inappropriate and violent behavior.
Regis Mister, however, will likely take the cake in terms of brutality.
Mister has been sentenced to 48 years in prison, though it will effectively come down to around just 24.
His crime: the murder of his own mother Carol, a principal in the same school district he guarded, and his 12-year-old brother PJ.
Both were shot down in cold blood by Mister in the home they shared.
Many of those familiar with the killer questioned his mental health after the incident, meaning that there was likely some forewarning of this tragic event in Mister’s past.
He had been let go from Sherriff’s department earlier in the year for misusing department resources.
These repeated incidents of school police lashing out at the public in violent ways make it evident that stricter screening measures are needed for those who will be in charge of protecting children.
Students, especially those in low income areas, are especially susceptible to abuse by police because they likely do not have a full sense of their rights, and are more likely to submit readily to authority.
This can lead to an atmosphere of cruelty wherein violence and mental illness can grow and spread.
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Max Chantha is a writer and investigative journalist interested in covering incidences of government injustice, at home and abroad. He is a current university student studying Global Studies and Professional Writing. Check out Max Chantha: An Independent Blog for more of his work.