S12.E15: Where We Stand

[DanaK]

Quote

Frank contends with public outcry to defund the NYPD School Safety Division, after a physical altercation between a school officer and a student goes viral. Also, Danny and Baez help a father track down his missing ex-wife and daughter; Erin and Anthony deal with the aftermath of the surprise release of a serial criminal; and Jamie is unsure of how to navigate inappropriate conversation among his officers in the precinct, on the CBS Original series BLUE BLOODS, Friday, March 4 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network and available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+
 

 

[preeya]

Anthony gets best line of the night with: 

" and St. Bar and Grill has hours until 2:00 AM"  

[Daff]

Underwhelming episode. I did like that Jamie showed he could dish the trash talk, but chooses not to perpetuate that kind of environment in his “house”. Just because the Filipino Officer was “used to it” didn’t make it right. It’s really a type of bullying, intended to diminish the recipient, while feeding the sad little egos of the individuals mocking him. 
Who didn’t think the husband somehow instigated the sudden disappearance of his ex and child? But if she was married to him (a US citizen), wouldn’t she have become one, as well? 
I didn’t like the way the show portrayed School Safety Officers, in general. As if they’re installed in schools merely as security guards. Most are decent, caring people who like kids, go above and beyond to help them, and are treated as integral members of faculty. 

[preeya]

2 hours ago, Daff said:

I didn’t like the way the show portrayed School Safety Officers, in general. As if they’re installed in schools merely as security guards. Most are decent, caring people who like kids, go above and beyond to help them, and are treated as integral members of faculty. 

Are School Safety Officers really employed by the NYPD and not the Board of Ed? If so, are they police, auxiliary police, or something else? I do recall hearing that they don't carry a gun.

[Neiman]

In our school, a big part of the school resource officer's job is to make friends with students. The guy keeps students from being on time for class because he has cool jokes to tell and needs to sing praises to all the athletes. Seems like a publicity stunt to build relations with community, yet also seems like he's listening for any tips to arrest family members or neighbors. Not impressed. Some schools have their own safety staff which can be more effective and create less animosity than if they have police.

I wish the show would just have one or two stories each week instead of multiple stories with all Reagans. I can imagine how tasty Eddie's quiche was. I love Anthony and realize he lives his job, but think maybe it would be good if he had some distance between him and Erin.

39 minutes ago, preeya said:

Are School Safety Officers really employed by the NYPD and not the Board of Ed? If so, are they police, auxiliary police, or something else? I do recall hearing that they don't carry a gun.

Not sure about NYPD, but in our schools, they are police officers carrying guns. There is a contract between police department and the school system. Some schools also contract with private security, and those guards also carry guns.

[Magnumfangirl]

57 minutes ago, preeya said:

Are School Safety Officers really employed by the NYPD and not the Board of Ed? If so, are they police, auxiliary police, or something else? I do recall hearing that they don't carry a gun.

The public schools in NY are run by the city so they are the board of education.  School resource/safety officers are always real cops otherwise they are called security guards.  My high school (in the south) in the 90s had both unarmed security guards (who were absolute jokes) and a real city cop on duty.  The security guards main job was to keep kids from walking out the door to ditch and to keep strangers out.  The cop was mostly there to gain info on real criminal activity.  Both confiscated contraband and if the contraband was something criminal the cop made arrests.  Unfortunately, I do not remember if the the cop wore a gun.

[mojito]

4 hours ago, Daff said:

Who didn’t think the husband somehow instigated the sudden disappearance of his ex and child? But if she was married to him (a US citizen), wouldn’t she have become one, as well? 

Yeah, I figured those missing letters had been intercepted. My take is that the woman and her ex assumed that she was an American citizen and it was only through the letters that he found out otherwise. She only found out when an agent visited her office. 

I liked how they handled the bullying. Perhaps too easy, but satisfying nevertheless. Good thing the bully cop was thin-skinned or Jaime might've had to resort to insulting the guy's mother to get him riled up. It always makes my eyes roll when I hear someone saying, "We were just having fun" when "we" does not include everyone. 

I expected Erin to say Wait up!" in that last scene with Anthony.

It's cute that she and Anthony are besties and Danny and Baez are friendly enough that she can drag him to the taping of a TV show (although he was motivated by the promise of food).

[SunnyBeBe]

Jamie tried to get permission from the patrolman for him to do the right thing.  He should have just done the right thing.  All those stories about how that’s how it’s always been, no harm intended, etc. pitiful.   It’s not 1982. 
 

Wouldn’t the feds have arrested the husband.  Mail theft or tampering are federal crimes.  
 

Were there no cameras showing how the perp fell down the steps, when resisting arrest?  I though Anthony was putting Erin in a bad situation by continuing to describe her as lying to the AG’s investigator.  She didn’t lie, so why did Anthony keep harping on it?  THEN, after all is resolved, he has to let Erin know that maybe he was responsible!  WTF?  That’s crazy.  I would have really been annoyed in her shoes.  Honestly, I suspect Anthony does have a rage issue.  He really loses it and goes off.  Not that he did anything to push the man down the steps, but he has used excessive force before.  I posted about how he was roughing up his cousin cause he discovered he stole some jewelry from their grandma after her death.  The reaction was way over the top.  I wonder if they are going anywhere with this.  

[Daff]

2 hours ago, preeya said:

Are School Safety Officers really employed by the NYPD and not the Board of Ed? If so, are they police, auxiliary police, or something else? I do recall hearing that they don't carry a gun.

Employed by the police department, assigned to positions in schools, and not randomly. It was part of the whole “community policing” efforts initiated in maybe late 90s, early 2000s. The positions needed to be filled by officers who wanted to make a difference in their communities, from the ground up. Although I have no experience regarding the huge NYC area, there are 5 other large metropolitan school districts in NY, with similar problems. The “not carrying their weapon,” as portrayed here is not realistic. The safety officers I knew throughout my career came to work in uniform, complete with sidearm. My question about the portrayal in this episode was, inside school grounds during the incident, where were the school administrators?

[Daff]

7 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

She didn’t lie,

You’d have to be Catholic to understand. She committed a “lie of omission”. Just remember, it’s easier to get forgiveness than permission. 

[Daff]

6 hours ago, Daff said:

As if they’re installed in schools merely as security guards. Most are decent, caring people who like kids, go above and beyond to help them, and are treated as integral members of faculty. 

After reading other responses, above, I can see that my experience with the safety officers I’ve known was not necessarily typical. Most I’ve known had families, cared about kids and supported them. Some were reservists, and we always welcomed their return gladly. I guess, as with all jobs, a few bad apples…

So, I might venture a guess, here, that perhaps, while the local and state government were trying to provide the best resources they could, perhaps it was the individual school boards and administrators who failed to put them to best use. Conversely, I can also see that the “school safety officer” positions might be a tempting place to bury some “dead wood”. Kind of makes you hopeless and cynical. 

[mojito]

4 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Wouldn’t the feds have arrested the husband.  Mail theft or tampering are federal crimes.  

It seems that Danny had just put two and two together; all the Feds knew at this point was that the wife had ignored their letters. I guess the agent didn't believe that she'd not seen the notifications but Danny did.  So Danny got the husband to fess up and arrested him and will undoubtedly turn him over to the Feds.

[Snazzy Daisy]

Sorry BB, all 4 stories in this episode are so underwhelming especially Frank’s! 👎🏻

[Sarah 103]

On 3/5/2022 at 1:31 PM, preeya said:

Are School Safety Officers really employed by the NYPD and not the Board of Ed? If so, are they police, auxiliary police, or something else? I do recall hearing that they don't carry a gun.

My understanding based on what I have heard is that they are real police officers. Part of the issue which the episode did not go into (because they only have 42 minutes and it's Blue Bloods) is that interactions with police officers/School Safety Officers on campus often start over some silly little thing (like being late to class or a dress code violation) that should result in being sent to the prinicpal's office and punished with detention or something like that. When/if the situation escalates, because there is a police officer involved, it becomes a criminal issue and instead of after school or early more dentenion, it results in the student being sentenced. This is why some people call it the school to prison pipline. 

It's so much fun to see Jamie turning into his father. I liked the way he handled the situation, even though I had my doubts at first. Jamie sees the big picture and that it isn't an isolated case/issue. The end of the series has to be a flash forward to Jamie as Police Commissioner. 

[amarante]

A weak story and it was obvious the husband had something to do with it.

I think the issue is that if she had replied to the letters when she received them, it would have been cleared up relatively easy with the help of a immigration attorney who could navigate the bureaucracy. But once you ignore the government it becomes much more difficult to clear it up versus getting at least a VISA because of her marriage and being the mother of a citizen - not to mention qualifying at least as a Dreamer. 

It is hard to believe that she wasn't actually a citizen anyway unless the adoption wasn't done legally and she was just taken in for some reason. There is a specific law in which legally adopted children become citizens at the time of their adoption - I don't know the intricacies and I assume this was just lazy writing to set up a sympathetic "illegal"

However I am not sure how this would have gone undiscovered for so long - presumably she had a Social Security card which had to have been applied for. 

This is such a solidly old fashioned show - I watch it on my DVR and it is as good as warm milk to put me to sleep. Always a happy ending. 

[kwnyc]

On 3/5/2022 at 10:44 AM, Daff said:

But if she was married to him (a US citizen), wouldn’t she have become one, as well? 

Unfortunately, no. I have a friend (citizen) who is married to a non-U.S. citizen, and there's some question as to whether they will deport the husband. And there have been cases where the compliant immigrant moved, and the letters weren't forwarded.

It can be a very tough situation that has seen "dreamers" sent to countries they've never lived in, or even speak the language.

And as for school safety officers, they are NYPD. I don't buy that the student/felon who deals drugs can't be brought to the principal and suspended, and why there had to be a fist fight. (Well, so Frank could go and talk to the angry mob.)

I come from a time when there were not security/safety officers in schools, and it blows my mind to think that kids have that today and think of it as normal.

Edited March 7, 2022 by kwnyc

[UnikornRainbowz]

Is this Blue Bloods or Internal Affairs? Sending the AG to investigate? I tune in for cases and solves not this nonsense. This show is really getting bad. Such a boring episode. And Jamie needs to remove the stick from his butt.

[Daff]

23 hours ago, kwnyc said:

I come from a time when there were not security/safety officers in schools, and it blows my mind to think that kids have that today and think of it as normal.

I do, as well. Throughout my education, the closest we came was one “truancy officer” (retired cop) in my high school (9-12). However, after college, returning to the schools, voilà, there they were (sidearms, scanners, and metal detectors at the doors). But honestly, all the safety officers I’ve worked with (there were more, because I was itinerant) were highly adept at DE-escalating sticky situations, establishing relationships with troublesome (to the teachers/admins) kids (as well as some pretty scary parents), and were treated as integral, valued members of faculty. 

[Irate Panda]

I thought this episode was ok, but agree I wish they would just have 1-2 storylines per episode.  This might be a weird question but did Danny’s son gain a lot of weight recently or was that shirt just really unflattering (I know it was supposed to be).  I guess I rarely pay attention to him even when I watch I usually tune him out for some reason.

[mythoughtis]

I think Anthony just felt guilty even though he wasn’t.   He doesn’t know if he let go on purpose or not.  I don’t think he meant that he had done it on purpose. 
 

I was sure all along that the Dad had something to do with it. I expected that it would be that he contacted immigration in the first place.  My understanding of the adoption process is that the parents have to apply for their adoptive child to be a citizen and they have to do it while he/she is a minor- and that it is not automatic. There has been a couple of contested cases in the news the last few years. 

 

[ctlady]

On 3/5/2022 at 4:25 PM, SunnyBeBe said:

Were there no cameras showing how the perp fell down the steps, when resisting arrest?

Seriously.  Or was that camera busy taping the husband tampering with the wife's mail?

On 3/5/2022 at 10:44 AM, Daff said:

Underwhelming episode. I did like that Jamie showed he could dish the trash talk, but chooses not to perpetuate that kind of environment in his “house”. Just because the Filipino Officer was “used to it” didn’t make it right. It’s really a type of bullying, intended to diminish the recipient, while feeding the sad little egos of the individuals mocking him. 

As someone who worked in HR, I couldn't believe how backwards this situation was.  I don't know if police precincts have HR departments, but what Jamie did at the end should've been done from the very beginning.  He should've taken those 3 officers aside and told them that improper talk, no matter whose on board, should be taken outside the precinct and that anyone caught talking in such a way inside would be reported to HR to conduct an investigation.  He never should've called out the 3 talkers in front of the Filipino officer.  Then- make a general announcement regarding zero tolerance as not to single out the Filipino officer (who I did think went too far reporting Jamie for singling him out)

The actor who plays Sean looks as if he could play Anthony's son? 

And I'm absolutely sick of the anti-police story lines.  I wanted to kick that board of ed lady in the teeth to think that a 16 year old drug dealer with a long rap sheet just needs a little wuv and attention.  Wake up, lady.  If it were here child that had been sold drugs by him and they OD'd I guarantee she'd be singing a different tune

[Daff]

15 hours ago, ctlady said:

I don't know if police precincts have HR departments,

That would be whichever department the “formal complaint” against Jamie was lodged…and that, and the outcome, were never shown in the episode. 
As for the school board woman, sadly, public education (as well as social services) are over-populated with these deluded do-gooders who believe they can fill the voids in these “poor souls” -the “victims” of perpetual poverty and deprivation. The end result is infantalization, which encourages the continued acting-out, crime, and anti-social behavior. In real life terms, you end up with a school room full of adolescents who refuse to pay attention or complete any work because ultimately, they will never HAVE to work-just sit home and wait for the monthly check to arrive (that, and sell drugs on the corner). 

[Emma]

All I kept thinking about was if Fenchie was going to show up again? I wasn’t sure if we’d see her paid off/threatened to say she wasn’t sure or get attacked by that creep again?