The presence of armed police on school campuses provokes some to protest. They claim that police are not suited to working with students and that they facilitate a “school to prison pipeline” that along with “Zero Tolerance” policies “pushes students out of school and into the criminal justice environment.
One organization that advocates removing police from schools is the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) that published a report on the subject in 2017 called “Bullies In Blue, The Origins and Consequences of School Policing.”
The report says that Black and Latino students are disproportionately affected by the presence of SRO’s on campus. It claims that "As of 2013, 51 percent of high schools with majority Black and Latino enrollment had law enforcement officers on campus, and across the country, Black students were more than twice as likely as their white classmates to be referred to law enforcement or arrested at school." (Page 11)
It rebuts the four functions of SRO’s as set out by the COPS program,
·
Law Enforcer- Police in school’s
primary function is to enforce the law. “Yet the “criminal” disorder addressed
by police in schools is the type of adolescent conduct that otherwise would be
handled through school discipline.” (page 13)
·
Informal Counselor- They are not
qualified as counselors. They are not trained as counselors. Counselors are
required to keep student information confidential; an SRO has no
confidentiality requirement.
·
Educator- As educators, their role
serves police interests not educational objectives. And in some cases, they may
indoctrinate children that police are always right.
·
Emergency Manager- Having police on
campus to respond to emergencies does not necessarily help the school develop a
comprehensive emergency plan.
Inevitably, even if not intended, SRO’s become involved in
school discipline with bad results.
·
Privacy rights- SRO's can share
private information among other police agencies where schools would protect
that information
·
Criminalize adolescent conduct-
Minor infractions are escalated to crimes
·
Discrimination- Black students are
more than twice as likely as white students to be referred to law enforcement
And it claims that "Police are more likely to use force in interactions with young people than with adults…" (page 22)
Next- Part 3: Concluding Thoughts
American Civil Liberties Union:
https://www.aclu.org/issues/juvenile-justice/school-prison-pipeline/bullies-blue
Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School-to-prison_pipeline
The Seattle Times:
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