UVALDE, Texas — The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District has decided to suspend the Uvalde CISD Police Department "for a period of time."
Officers currently employed with Uvalde CISD will fill other roles in the district, according to a news release from the district Friday morning. The district also announced that Director of Student Services Ken Mueller has elected to retire. This comes after both Mueller and Lt. Miguel Hernandez were placed on administrative leave.
The district says they will "continue to engage with the Texas Police Chiefs Association who is conducting a Management and Organizational Review. The results of this review will guide the rebuilding of the department and the hiring of a new Chief of Police."
A report is expected to be released later this month.
Decisions concerning the UCISD police department have been pending with the results of the Texas Police Chiefs Association and JPPI Investigation. Their recent developments have reportedly "uncovered additional concerns with department operations," hence the administrative leave orders and the suspension of the department.
In the meantime, the district has requested the Texas Department of Public Safety to provide additional troopers for campus and extra-curricular activities.
"We are confident that staff and student safety will not be compromised during this transition," the district wrote.
Just this week, the former Texas Department of Public Safety trooper reportedly under investigation for her actions while responding to the Robb Elementary shooting, who was hired as a police officer for Uvalde CISD, was terminated Thursday.
Crimson Elizondo was seen in footage of the May 24 tragedy at Robb Elementary School and was one of the first troopers to arrive at the school in response to the shooting.
Families of the Robb victims took to social media Wednesday night in outrage following the report, with one parent tweeting "This is a slap in the f*ing face!!"
Uvalde families have been protesting, demanding the Uvalde CISD officers who responded to Robb to be punished.
Up until this announcement of the suspension, only Pete Arredondo, the now-former head of the district police force, faced consequences; he was fired in late August, three months to the day after he led the botched law enforcement response as incident commander.