7.9 UNI HIGH AGENCY & POLICE INTERVIEW PROCEDURES
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Agencies such as the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and police officials may request to interview a student. All requests will be handled by the Assistant Director. This (7.9section) does not include discipline incidents within the school.
Interviews by police will be conducted in the following manner:
1. The Assistant Director will check the police officer’s credentials and any legal papers such as warrants for arrest, search warrants, or subpoenas to be served.
2. The Assistant Director will attempt to contact the student’s parent(s)/guardian(s) if possible, and inform them that the student is subject to an interview. In extreme emergency situations, DCFS employees, law enforcement personnel, or treating physicians may, in effecting temporary protective custody, request that the school not notify parent(s)/guardian(s) until the child’s safety is ensured. The Assistant Director should ask that such a request be put in writing. The parent(s)/guardian(s) will be given the opportunity to be present and be represented by legal counsel at their own expense. Interviews of minor students without permission of the parent(s)/guardian(s) is not permitted unless a legal process is presented or in emergency situations.
3. Interviews will be conducted in a private setting. If the parent(s)/guardian(s) are absent, the Assistant Director and one other adult witness, selected by the Assistant Director, will be present during the interview.
4. Interview proceedings will be documented in writing for inclusion in the student’s temporary records when a parent/guardian is not present.
5. No minor student shall be removed from the school by the police officer without the consent of a parent/guardian, except upon service of a valid warrant of arrest or in cases of warrantless temporary protective custody, or in an emergency.
6. The police are allowed to do a pat down in order to remove any weapon that might be used to harm any individual.
Interviews by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) will be conducted in the following manner:
1. The Assistant Director will check the agent’s credentials and any papers pertaining to a legal process.
2. The Assistant Director will attempt to contact the student’s parent(s)/guardian(s) and inform them that the student is subject to an interview, if appropriate.
3. If the DCFS agent does not want a parent/guardian present or notified during the interview, this stipulation must be in writing and signed by the DCFS agent.
4. Interviews will be conducted in a private setting. If the parent(s)/guardian(s) are absent, the Assistant Director and one other adult witness, a member of the school faculty or staff, will be present during the interview.
5. The student may be removed from school by the DCFS agent if case circumstances warrant. A local law enforcement agency officer, designated DCFS employee, or a physician treating a child may take or retain temporary protective custody of the child without the consent of the person responsible for the child’s welfare, if (1) he or she has reason to believe that the child’s circumstances or conditions are such that continuing in his or her place of residence or in the care and custody of the person responsible for the child’s welfare, presents an imminent danger to that child’s life or health; (2) the person responsible for the child’s welfare is unavailable or has been asked and does not consent to the child’s removal from his or her custody; and (3) there is not time to apply for a court order under the Juvenile Court Act for temporary custody of the child. The person taking or retaining a child in temporary protective custody shall immediately make every reasonable effort to notify the person responsible for the child’s welfare and shall immediately notify the Department.
6. No school employee may act as a DCFS agent.