North Pole police defend themselves on Facebook for arresting angry high school parent

North Pole police took the unusual step of joining the comments thread of a news report on Fairbanks station KTVF's Facebook page to explain an incident at North Pole High School that ended with the arrest of a father who tried to pick up his daughter after school last week.

The comment section on the Facebook post had just opened. A few people said the father, Keith Fons, was in the wrong. Police stopped by the page to comment and give their side of the story.

According to police, several incidents occurred at the school over the course of two days, but no one was apparently in danger at any time. However, on one day, students were prevented from leaving the school premises for around 10 to 20 minutes after classes had ended.

Fons filmed himself going into the school on Sept. 18 to get his daughter out, as he was not given a reason why she or other students should be detained. Police later arrested Fons for making people uncomfortable and charged him with fourth-degree assault, even though he did not touch or threaten to harm anyone. A school employee said she felt unsafe around him.

Fons had made several statements containing foul language and insisted that the school administration release his daughter.

Here is the North Pole Police report on the events:

Good morning guys,

Some clarification on this topic. On the 18th, NPPD responded to three separate incidents at HS. The first was a report of a threat made on a bus the day before (17th). After working with school staff to identify everyone involved, it was determined that this threat was unfounded.

On the 18th, we responded to a report of a disturbance involving another NPHS student. This incident was unrelated to the previous threat on the bus. The student was contacted near the soccer field and the situation was ultimately resolved peacefully with no arrests made.

Because this disturbance occurred right as students were getting ready to leave school, staff decided to hold students in a brief “sit-tight” period to give NPPD time to clear the disturbance without flooding the area with other students and their vehicles. Because students had already begun to leave school, and because the disturbance occurred near the soccer fields, some students stopped at the main entrance of the school for a short time. They were not in danger from the other incident. These are the facts that prompted our contact with Keith Fons. While we cannot share further details about this situation at this time, we ask that all community members show trust and work with school staff and police to ensure the safety of students in our schools. When a dynamic incident occurs, the worst thing someone can do is get involved without knowing all the facts. This creates an unnecessary distraction for everyone involved and could endanger public safety in an emergency. Furthermore, it is never appropriate or helpful to respond with hostility to public safety personnel attempting to calm a situation. It also sets a negative example for students, who will need to trust their teachers should a dangerous situation arise in the future. Thank you for your time!

If you have any further questions, please contact LT Smith at [email protected]

According to Fons, it is inappropriate for the police to say they are not allowed to talk about the incident, while at the same time making detailed statements about him and the incident.

The police have presented their case in the court of public opinion, he says, saying: “The worst thing someone can do is interfere in proceedings without knowing all the facts.”

Fons, the one GoFundMe Account to help him pay for his defense may also be wondering whether, because of the police's comments, the police have created a scenario in which he cannot get a fair trial in his community.

Watch his video account of what he saw and did at North Pole High School in this earlier story linked below. Warning: The video contains explicit language.