At NIOT.org/COPS, we profile law enforcement programs and leaders that help make our communities stronger and safer. This month, we featured an article discussing how SROS can play a positive role in schools.
By John Rosiak
Prevention Partnerships
Principal, Rosiak Associates, LLC
School Resource Officers (SRO) have been criticized in some reports for being responsible for increases in arrests in schools. Associations have been made between the presence of school-based law enforcement and increased student arrests and referrals to juvenile court for school discipline issues—often for public order offenses, such as willful defiance, disorderly conduct, or disrupting the educational process. While there have been some instances of increased arrests in schools in the United States, other school-community partnerships are seeing opposite results—SROs helping to divert students from involvement with the justice system.
In communities around the United States, school and community groups are engaged in an important discussion about the appropriate roles of law enforcement in school safety—asking tough questions, like "Does the presence of police in schools mean
- reduced crime?
- increased safety?
- increased arrests?
- disproportionately arresting students of color?
- making schools feel less safe?"
Many communities find that SROs—one of the best known forms of school-based law enforcement—can help make schools safer. But if schools and law enforcement agencies do not make sure that SROs are well chosen and well trained, the presence of an officer in school can encourage a criminal justice response to misconduct better addressed by school administrators.
Read more about the role of SROS in schools at NIOT.org/COPS.
Add new comment