Policing our Schools

In 2005 nearly 70 percent of public high school students ages 12 to 18 reported that police officers or security guards patrolled their schools. Often called “School Resource Officers” or SRO’s, these agents are usually sworn police officers employed by the local police department and assigned to patrol public school hallways full-time. Some larger districts like Los Angeles and Houston employ the officers directly.

In direct correlation to the increased police presence in schools, the number of children arrested or referred to court for minor disciplinary infractions is on the rise. For example, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, in South Carolina the most common offense resulting in a juvenile court referral during the 2007-08 school year was “disturbing schools.” Similarly in Florida, 15 percent of all delinquency referrals stemmed from school-related conduct including 40 percent for “disorderly conduct” or “misdemeanor assault and battery.” Last year alone 19 percent of all juveniles arrested and referred to court in Birmingham, Alabama were for disorderly conduct offenses.

Keeping an eye on this trend, the ACLU recently released a white paper detailing specific recommendations for the use of police officers in schools so that those officers deployed will have the tools necessary for maintaining safe schools while simultaneously respecting the rights of students and not creating a punitive and corrections-focused climate in schools. Studies show that improper school-based arrests dramatically increase the likelihood of students dropping out of school and reduce students’ chances of academic success. Many experts call this the “school-to-prison pipeline” as children of color and students with disabilities are disproportionately represented among those arrested and effectively pushed out of public schools and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems.

The white paper identifies six key guidelines that should govern the use of police in schools, including distinguishing between disciplinary misconduct to be handled by school officials and criminal offenses to be handled by law enforcement. The paper also advocates that any government policy ensure that police on school campuses will be given certain minimum training requirements, that the relationship between law enforcement and the school be explicitly defined and suggests procedures for promoting transparency and accountability for those officers already stationed in schools.

The release of the white paper also coincides with the recent passage by the House Subcommittee on Crime of H.R. 1064, a bipartisan bill designed to combat youth violence. Known as the “Youth PROMISE Act”, it would fund prevention and intervention programs that are comprehensive, community-centered and evidence-based efforts to combat gangs and youth violence.

Considering the recent events in Pennsylvania and the challenges facing states like California its nice to see some small steps to remedy the problems in the misguided “get tough on crime” approach with juveniles. The fiscal and social ramifications of simply locking up at-risk youth will soon break already strained communities. Juvenile crime presents very real challenges, but simply incarcerating kids does nothing to remedy the underlying problems or deterring future offenders. We currently incarcerate 1 of every 100 citizens. The Youth PROMISE Act is an important step toward reversing that trend but can’t combat the problem alone.

What do you think the relationship between school officials and law enforcement should be and how do we best deal with kids and crime?

photo courtesy of firetrouble via Flickr

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Abo r.

12:58PM PST on Feb 18, 2010

Noted.
When there is no control police is needed

send a green star

Mervi R.

2:40PM PST on Jan 1, 2010

Thanks for posting this.

Walter G.

7:41AM PST on Nov 9, 2009

The answer is. since the current US public school rationale is not to teach but "warehouse" the students for a few hours each day, to either home school them, or send them to Europe. Just put cell doors on tech classrooms and have prison guards come in to patrol, the students are all but a few in the pipeline already. As modern society goes, one can either gt an ivy league education and then go to prison for insider trading, or take a night college course in business management and apply it to the day job of pushing dope.

Michael M.

1:18PM PST on Nov 8, 2009

How about we get rid of mandatory government brainwashing for enslaved youth... I mean, public schools. Just do a little research, people! We need to question everything about this issue. Why just stop at the debate of SROs? The public school systems are completely corrupt. There may be some benefits, but the cons completely outweigh the pros. Ignorence, violence, and depression have all been on the rise in youth ever since the government took over schools and made them compulsory. It's not a conspiracy theory, it's well documented. Again, just take some time out to research the issue of schooling. Many of you will be surprised after being brainwashed by the government for so long. And police have been notorious for escalating violence, not controlling it. Yes, there are police officers with good intentions of protecting the community, but they are misguided and used. Just like some teachers have good intentions and want to help people learn, but they are also musguided and used. Police, teachers, and most other government agents are just pawns pushing the agenda of the ruling elite on the rest of us. Police, look at the laws you enforce. Teachers, look at the curriculum you teach. It's less about helping people and more about holding up the status quo. There is alot of great information out there on these issues, so go look it up instead of sending me hate mail. I'm not arguing with anyone, I'm just having my say in the matter.

Robert S.

10:35PM PST on Nov 7, 2009

Thank you Lionel !

Lionel M.

12:37AM PST on Nov 7, 2009

Good point, Robert!

10:28PM PST on Nov 6, 2009

They removed GOD from our schools and now they have to put police in...? Go figure.

12:42AM PST on Nov 6, 2009

Police officers to maintain order in schools!
Does that not show just how utterly sick, fundamentally corrupt is your society? Clean up your act before you try arrogantly to preach to others.

Kimberly J.

5:19PM PST on Nov 5, 2009

This is the end of my last post. The last part of it got cut off.

On one occasion, I asked the SRO to talk with a student who seemed to be heading down the wrong path. He was a very good student & the worst trouble he had been in was being late for class on occasion. All of a sudden, he did a 180 & was always in trouble & his grades were dropping fast. The SRO called this student to his office & the 2 of them talked man to man. I don't know what was said or why the boy started going in the wrong direction, but shortly after his conversation with the SRO, he was back on the right track. This boy graduated with honors & received a scholarship to one of the top universities in the state where he is studying medicine.

5:16PM PST on Nov 5, 2009

I am a teacher in Florida & can tell you from experience that SRO's are needed in today's secondary schools. School administrators are not trained to deal with certain situations, whereas police officers are. Kids today don' t just have fist fights. They bring guns, knives & drugs to school. Today's kids are more likely to settle their differences with weapons than with words or fists.

Many of today's kids have only 1 parent who is often uninvolved in their child's life. A SRO can be a positive role model for students. Also, SRO's can be someone a child can talk to & be guaranteed confidentiality. All too often, teachers & school administrators will tell each other if a child comes to them with a personal problem & what that problem is. The SRO's I've met don't do that. Unless a life is in danger or laws are being broken, the SRO keeps the student's problem confidential.

On one occasion, I asked the SRO to talk with a student who seemed to be heading down the wrong path. He was a very good student & the most trouble he had been in was occasionally being late for class. All of a sudden, he did a 180, was always in trouble & his grades were dropping fast. The SRO called this student to his office & the 2 of them talked man to man. I don't know what was said or why the boy started going in the wrong direction, but shortly after his conversation with the SRO, he was back on the right track. He's now studying medicine at one of Florida's to