History
United States
The first documented SRO was placed in a school inCanada
Like the United States, many secondary schools in Canada have hired security personnel to enhance the safety of staff and students. School systems, such as inPurpose
Different governments, school districts, and professional agencies have varied descriptions for the purpose of SROs. The National Association for School Resource Officers details the SRO's role as threefold: 1) as an educator, 2) as an informal counselor or mentor and 3) as a law enforcement officer. The United States Department of Justice includes the three prongs, and adds 4) an emergency manager or planner for a school or district. Johns Hopkins University's Center for Technology in Education aggregated SROs' job descriptions across the country and identified seven comprehensive purposes for an SRO, including 1) provide law enforcement and investigation, 2) develop crime prevention programs, 3) training and securing school personnel, 4) establish a working relationship with school and students, 5) develop classes related to position, 6) assist students in conflict resolution, and 7) be a positive role model. In addition, SROs' are managed by different institutions depending on their location. At school, most SROs are treated as staff and report to the principal or other school administrators. When not at school, they are often managed by a law enforcement agency.Crime prevention
Crime prevention is as a major component of being an SRO. National Association of School Psychologists contend that properly trained SROs trained in threat assessment play a key role in a school's comprehensive safety planning and implementation. US Dept of Education and Secret Service recommends all schools develop Threat Assessment Teams (consisting of an SRO or liaison officer, a principal and a mental health professional and/or counselor) on school-based threat assessment teams. This multidisciplinary approach to violence utilizes a team approach that meets together to offer different perspectives to help solve problems. The team's collaborative approach makes certain that each situation is carefully assessed so there is not under or over-reaction to a situation. The team should meet on a continuous basis for best communication. The team follows a decision-tree process to help determine if a threat made at the school is transient or serious. The multidisciplinary approach is preventive because it identities students that could be on the path to violence and intervenes to get them the wraparound services they could be needing to put them on a more positive path. Most threats are considered transient, however each and every threat must be properly assessed with the help of an SRO since the consequences can be so severe. Research from psychologists have shown these teams are the opposite of zero-tolerance and help to establish better school climates, reduce suspensions without racial bias, and help to prevent violence to both self and others. School resource officers play a key role as far as gathering information in identifying and monitoring a student for follow-up after a threat has been made. The most widely used Threat Assessment model for schools is the Virginia Threat Assessment Guidelines for K–12 schools. The model, tailored by psychologist Dewey Cornell, is evidence-based and has been tested in six controlled studies. The model always includes school-based law enforcement, most often an SRO.SECURe rubric
The Safe School-based Enforcement through Collaboration, Understanding, and Respect (SECURe) rubrics were created through a partnership of the United States Department of Education and Department of Justice. SECURe provides plans for initiating or improving SRO/law enforcement relationships with schools. SECURe identifies five action items for schools and law enforcement agencies to collaborate: # "Create sustainable partnerships and formalize Memorandum of Understandings (MOUs) among school districts, local law enforcement agencies, juvenile justice entities, and civil rights and community stakeholders. # Ensure that MOUs meet constitutional and statutory civil rights requirements. # Recruit and hire effective SROs and school personnel. # Keep SROs and school personnel well trained. # Continually evaluate SROs and school personnel, and recognize good performance."Outcomes
Prominence
In the 2015–16 school year, the following percentages of schools reported having one or more SROs at their school at least once per week: * 77% of schools with 1000 or more students * 47% of schools with 500–999 students * 36% of schools with 300–499 students * 24% of schools with fewer than 300 students Overall, 42% of public schools host an SRO and an additional 10.9% host a sworn law enforcement officer, as of 2016. Towns (defined as a territory within an urban cluster) have the highest concentration of SROs as 57% of schools in towns host at least one SRO. This is compared to 45% of suburban schools and 36% of city schools. Almost a third of public schools that host an SRO are more than 80% black, while less than 42% of the schools that host an SRO are majority white. The majority of large schools in the US have some sort of security staff present.Juvenile crime reduction
It is difficult to tell if the presence of SROs is having an impact on the prevalence of crime in schools and communities, likely because it is difficult to show a causal relationship between the presence of law enforcement and crime rates. For example, in a 2018 study that compared Kentucky high schools that hosted an SRO to Kentucky high schools that did not, there was no statistically significant relationship between reported criminal violation rates and the presence of an SRO. However, a 2013 study that analyzed data across the United States found that schools that increase their use of police see an increase in reported crime. This conclusion aligns more closely with intuition because one of the stated goals of SROs is to develop better relationships between students, staff, and police officers which could mean that students and staff would be more comfortable reporting criminal activity to an officer. A 2012 report from the National Association of School Resource Officers cites national statistics that show a general decrease in juvenile crime and the violent-crime index since the early 2000s, when SROs became especially prominent in schools. They support this claim with a 2009 study that finds that "when the results were controlled for economic disadvantage, the presence of an SRO led to a 52.3% decrease in the arrest rate for assaults and a 72.9% decrease in arrests involving possession of a weapon on school property." While this is true, having an SRO in the school also significantly increases the arrest rate for disorderly conduct, even when controlling for school poverty, a more subjective charge that relies considerably on the discretion of the arresting officer, as opposed to something like an assault or weapons charge that is much more objective. This result lends itself to the idea that the presence of an SRO may increase the criminalization of behaviors that could have been addressed in other ways. Further, the decrease in arrests for assault and weapon possession could be from a result of students avoiding the SROs and taking these activities off campus, not necessarily the result of them failing to commit these crimes at all. In another article, James Swift also refers to the report prepared by the Justice Policy Institute. His writing further indicates that the presence of school resource officers does not lead to a reduction in crime. This is a similar problem with associating the presence of SROs with the decline in crime rates, overall. There are too many contributing factors to the occurrence of crime to draw a causal relationship between the presence of law enforcement and the crime rate. There are methodological challenges in thwarted crimes. There are hundreds of examples of serious intercepted plots throughout the US that SROs played an active role in helping to mitigate. The role will continue to be controversial because those stories never make the papers so credit goes ungiven.Teaching and mentorship
A 2017 study combined crime data from the U.S. Department of Education and interviews with 20 SROs to better understand how officers are spending their time between teaching, mentorship, and law enforcement. Overall, the study finds that while 75% of SROs perform law enforcement functions, only about half of SROs perform teaching or mentorship functions. The performance of these functions were also different based on the racial make-up and socio-economic status of the students at the schools. For example, at schools with students of lower socio-economic statuses, while SROs engaged in more mentorship than at schools with wealthier students, they also were more involved in school discipline and implemented more laws than at wealthier schools. The findings also indicated that SROs perform more law enforcement functions as the percentage of white students increase. It is important to note that this information comes from a single study, so more research is needed to draw significant conclusions on SRO teaching and mentorship.Financial costs
A 2011 report from the Justice Policy Institute considered the cost of SROs as compared to other full-time employees at secondary schools. An SRO is paid at the rate of a police detective, which in 2011 was paid an average of $63,294 per year. This salary was more than both the average teacher's salary and average school counselor's salary in 2011. Opponents of SROs often cite this as a reason to not employ an SRO, as it may strain an already tight school budget. However, in some cases, law enforcement agencies have been known to split the cost of employing an SRO with the district. There are also grant opportunities available through the Community Oriented Policing Solutions office under the Department of Justice. Those grants made their first major impact in 2000 when the grants provided money to employ almost 600 School resource officers in 289 different communities.Law and policy
Memorandums of Understanding
Because SROs are responsible for a number of tasks outside of normal duties for law enforcement officials, it has become common practice to establish a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the school district and the local law enforcement agency. These MOUs tend to vary in content based on the needs of the school district, but common ideas include the specified mission of the SRO, the organizational structure, and goals and procedures for the SRO. Other MOUs are more specific and include day-to-day duties of the SRO, where the SRO would be located in the school building, how an SRO will be selected, who is responsible for training, and chain-of-command issues. The National Association of School Resource Officers provides a helpful guideline and questions that should be reflected in an MOU to ensure the safety of students and to guard against legal action that could be taken against the law enforcement agency and/or the school. MOUs often fall short in clearly defining the school's role and the SRO's role in student discipline and maintaining a safe environment. As a result, an SRO may find himself/herself making decisions in the moment that disrupt the balance between student safety and students' rights. Kimberly Small, Assistant General Counsel for the Illinois Association of School Boards, recommends specifying policies, in line with applicable laws, on issues of "search and seizure, questioning of students, and requests for student records."Federal policies
While the federal government does not have specific laws regarding the use of SROs, the U.S. Department of Education and Department of Justice created the Safe School-based Enforcement through Collaboration, Understanding, and Respect (SECURe) rubrics to help provide guidance to school districts. Students can, however, file civil rights claims against School Resource Officers. Kerrin Wolf, an assistant professor of law at Stockton University, reviewed a series of Supreme Court decisions that have shaped the federal civil rights of students while in school. In her paper, she explores the ways in which students' rights are limited in three dimensions while in school: rights against search and seizure, interrogation rights, and free speech rights. * Search and Seizure: New Jersey v. T.L.O. loosened probable cause requirements for school officials in two ways: it required less evidence to justify a search and a school official can suspect a student of breaking a law or a school policy, which covers significantly more actions than just breaking a law. Vernonia School District v. Acton and Board of Education of Pottowatamie School District v. Earls further expanded schools' ability to search students by allowing for random drug testing for all students involved in extracurricular activities. However, Safford Unified School District#1 v. Redding placed some restrictions on schools by identifying strip searches as too intrusive. Courts remain divided regarding the question of whether school resource officers need probable cause or reasonable suspicion to conduct a search of a student on school grounds because they are agents of a law enforcement agency, not school officials. * Interrogation: In State v. Barrett, the Louisiana court found that aState laws
Only eight U.S. states currently have laws on the books regarding School Resource Officers and/or police in schools. Generally, these laws only cover the definition of an SRO and mandate training. However, in November 2016, New Jersey signed into law Bill S86, which allows schools to hire retired law enforcement officers as SROs under the condition that they receive no benefits, can work full-time hours, are no older than age 65, and retired within three years of application to the SRO program.Controversies
Police brutality
There have also been a number of incidents in the United States in which school resource officers and/or police officers called into schools are reported to have used excessive force against students. Some of those incidents include: * In May 2017, an in-school police officer with the Dallas Independent School District (ISD) allegedly handcuffed and tasered a 7-year-old special needs student and, in that same week, another in-school officer at another Dallas ISD reportedly body-slammed and pepper sprayed a 12-year-old female student on campus. * In October 2015, a police officer was filmed body-slamming a 16-year-old girl at her desk in Spring Valley High School in South Carolina. * Also in October 2015, two police officers were called into Round Rock High School in Texas to break up a fight between students. Students filmed one of the officers choking one of the 14-year-old students involved in the fight. * A school resource officer for Tolman High School in Rhode Island fell under investigation in 2015 for body-slamming a 14-year-old student, leading to massive protests the following day over the SRO's behavior. * In August 2015, theIncreasing arrests of juveniles
Student Resource Officers are becoming more commonplace in American and Canadian schools, leading to increasing concerns that their presence in secondary schools could prematurely expose adolescents to the Criminal Justice System. School districts across the United States are implementing criminal justice system practices in order to achieve a safe schooling environment; however, this comes at the cost of exposing youth/adolescents to the criminal justice system and tarnishing their educational achievements for situations that in the past would likely have been handled through disciplinary action within the school. This is seen by some as contributing to a phenomenon commonly known as the school to prison pipeline. A criticism of school resource officer programs pertains to the rate of juvenile arrests. In a 2011 article by Amanda Petteruti issued by the Justice Policy Institute, information is presented that indicates that school referrals to the juvenile justice system have increased with the presence of SROs. A high percentage of those referrals were for minor offenses that may have been handled by the administration had an SRO not been present. This concern has attracted attention and some studies indicate that the use of the Juvenile justice system for minor offenses aids in a phenomenon known as the " School to prison pipeline" (pg. 13). To contrast, overall juvenile arrests have gone down according to data from the DOJ. If the proliferation of SRO programs in the US are adding to arrests, the data showing this correlation is missing. TheEffectiveness
The February 14, 2018 shooting which killed 17 people atFurther reading
References
{{reflist, colwidth=30em , refs= {{cite web , url=https://www.ifpo.org/resource-links/articles-and-reports/school-security-training/school-resource-security-officers/ , title=School Resource Security Officers: School Protection Officers for Public Schools , author=McNicholas, C. , year=2013 {{cite web , url=http://jjie.org/school-resource-officers-topic-of-hot-debate-even-prior-sandy-hook/102868 , title=School Resource Officer: A Topic of Hot Debate, Even Prior to Sandy Hook , author=Swift, J , date=January 18, 2013 {{cite journal , author=Amanda Petteruti , title=Education Under Arrest: The Case Against Police in Schools , date=November 2011 , journal=Justice Policy Institute {{cite journal , author=Ryan J. Morimune , title=The School Resource Officer Perspective: Examining Crime, Violence, Law Enforcement, and Education on Public High School Campuses , year=2012 {{cite journal , author=Catherine Y. Kim , first2=India , last2=Geronimo , title=Policing in Schools: Developing a Governance Document for School Resource Officers in K–12 Schools , date=August 2009External links