The death of George Floyd by Minneapolis police has put School Resource Officers in the cross hairs of activists who see no need for police on school campuses or who see their presence as a detriment to student safety and welfare.
The Edmonds School District ended its ties with local police departments to provide SRO’s in its schools, citing inequitable discipline for minorities. The Seattle School District has taken a similar step.
Lt. Rebecca Lewis of the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office was an SRO for two school districts. She maintains that sending minorities to jail is not a goal for SRO’s. In an email interview she said, “Their (SRO’s) ultimate goal is to keep juveniles out of the criminal justice system through mentoring and positive interactions with law enforcement who truly care about their future and well-being.”
She says that SRO’s use the precepts of “procedural justice” in their contacts with students.
Procedural justice promotes fairness in resolving disputes, positive organizational change, good relations with the community and enhances officer safety. Procedural justice is based on 4 precepts:
·
Fairness and consistency in applying
rules
·
Voice and representation in a
process
·
Transparency and openness
·
Impartiality and unbiased decision making
The videos that we have been seeing in the news of police beating, shooting, and killing blacks undermines any sense of fairness, impartiality, or transparency. No matter the facts, the perception of discrimination has become overwhelming. And there have been videos and stories in the past of police roughly handling teens in class, or of even handcuffing grade schoolers.
Part of what may be uneven treatment may be the fact that implementing SRO programs is a local matter. There are no national, or in many cases, state standards. The National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO) offers training nationwide, but it does not train all SRO’s.
The growth of SRO’s in schools has been due to fear of juvenile crime and the epidemic of school shootings starting in the 1990’s. Many local police agencies and school districts may have viewed a police officer as limited to patrolling school grounds and responding to a low percentage active shooter incident.
The high-minded goal of an SRO is, and should be, more than patrolling school hallways. Modern crime prevention thinking places police officers as part of the community, not separate from it. For success in preventing crime, police need to work with the community as part of a team. Different team players contribute different talents that can lead to success.
The disconnect between critics of SRO’s and local police needs to be alleviated if we are to continue to have a secure society and secure schools. Police departments and Sheriff’s Offices need to reach out to the community more now than at any time in recent history. They need to listen to the community, even if what they hear is difficult. Then they need to work with the community to find new ways to prevent crime.
https://ssnoccrimewatch.blogspot.com/2020/09/school-resource-officers-part-1.html
SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICERS- Part 2: The Argument Against
https://ssnoccrimewatch.blogspot.com/2020/09/school-resource-officers-part-2.html
Lynnwood Times:
The Herald:
https://www.heraldnet.com/news/edmonds-school-board-cuts-school-resource-officer-contracts/
The Seattle Times:
National Initiative for Building Community Trust and Justice:
https://trustandjustice.org/resources/intervention/procedural-justice
National Public Safety Partnership:
US News and World Report:
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