Do NOT Teach Your Children to Trust the Police

by William Norman Grigg
Sep. 24, 2012

Shortly after Ruben Delgadillo graduated from the Idaho Police Academy, the Governor’s Task Force on Children at Risk held a conference to examine how to deal with child predators. That event included specialized training for school resource officers. Delgadillo, who was assigned to be a school resource officer in the Caldwell School District, probably attended some of those sessions and took detailed notes.

In 2008, Delgadillo was employed as a school resource officer at Vallivue High School. As a member of the school suspension board, he encountered a troubled freshman named Brennan Nicholson. After a suspension hearing, Delagadillo met with Nicholson and his mother and suggested that he could mentor the young man.

The officer lavished attention on the boy. Eventually the officer persuaded the youngster to spend the night at a house he shared with his supervisor, Sergeant Mike Larimer. During those sleep-overs Delgadillo repeatedly molested the teenager. Larimer was aware of the crimes and did nothing to protect the victim. The molester made it clear to the victim that he could expect no help from the police. Delgadillo was eventually prosecuted and served a year in prison.

Nicholson’s mother had taught her son to trust the police. No conscientious parent can afford to make that mistake.