CENTENNIAL HIGH SCHOOL – As some of us may have already heard, there was a security threat on Centennial High School campus grounds after school on Wednesday, September 14. In an email sent to parents, the Centennial administration informed that a former student was arrested at 12 p.m. the following day after being seen with a firearm on campus.
Centennial takes campus security extremely seriously, and is handling this situation accordingly in correspondence with the Frisco Police Department. Officer Jefferson, the Centennial SRO, has some thoughts on this matter.
“Yesterday there was an incident; a kid that doesn’t currently go to school here…showed up after he’d already been trespassed from here. He’d been warned earlier this week,” Officer Jefferson revealed.
The individual allegedly confronted a student with a firearm.
“He made a threat with a gun, not to the school body, but to [one] kid he was dealing with. But the fact that he was on school property with a gun is an issue,” Officer Jefferson disclosed, along with the fact that the individual had already been arrested for previous charges this year.
According to a press release by Frisco PD, the suspect in question, 18-year-old Craig Joseph Adams, is a former student who has been arrested on the charge of Criminal Trespass.
“The offense is a class B Misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $2,000 and up to 180 days in jail,” the press release read.
Officers were able to respond to the situation efficiently thanks to student witnesses who reported the incident to the police.
“What the kids did that was great is that they reported it. We would have never known… how would we have known… this all happened real quick in the back parking lot after school,” Officer Jefferson said.
Reporting any suspicious and dangerous activity is essential in maintaining the security of the school.
“I think the biggest thing we’ve been trying to tell [students] is that as soon as you get to a place where you’re safe, call then [and] don’t wait or delay because it’s more work for us to deal with it after,” Officer Jefferson shares. “If we can come and deal with it right away, that makes it a lot easier, [because] we don’t have to go through all the red tape.”
Centennial administration would also like to stress the usefulness of using the STOPit app in preventing any unsafe activity, both mental and physical.
“It doesn’t have to be crime necessarily, it can be a lot of different things. The STOPit app is great because it notifies all the people who need to be notified,” Officer Jefferson added.
Now that we have seen the importance of reporting firsthand, make sure to speak up if you see something out of the ordinary. In fact, September 25 is actually National “If You See Something, Say Something®” Awareness Day, which is a campaign that promotes awareness of the effects of complacency.
So remember, if you see something, say something.