In an article from The Conversation: “Why school police officers may not be the most effective way to prevent violence” (available HERE) there are 5 main points raised in the article. I think that the author of the article has never closely observed or worked with a police-school partnership. The 5 points of why police should not be in schools discussed in the article are frequent talking points from the “anti-police in school” groups. I will briefly discuss each of the 5 points below.
They don’t address the root problems
Professor Behnken suggests that hardening school security and having social workers and therapists would make schools safer. Yes better physical security and appropriate therapists, social workers etc. could make schools safer. That is only part of the puzzle. Police are also part of a coordinated effort to make schools safe. Police are the enforcement part that is needed in the most unsafe schools. The police’s role is not to address root causes, the role of police in schools is to help promote a safe and positive learning environment for the 95% to 99% of students that go to school to learn without causing trouble.
Their role is not well defined
The role of the police in schools is defined specifically by the school, school district, and the police department. Each school district is their own government entity. The same with police departments, they are individual government entities. In many states its called home rule. The point here is that the school and the police department many times enter into a contract or memorandum of understanding to define the expectations and operation of police in schools. Nationally the role of police in schools might look not well defined but for each school the role and expectations of police in schools can be very specifically defined.
They do not increase students’ feelings of safety
“Most students either do not realize that their school has a school resource officer or don’t mind that one is present. In fact, most students report liking the officer at their school.” Professor Behnken this is a good thing that the school police are unnoticed and work in the background. Most of the student population probably has little contact with the school police officer. Why? Because most students (95%) behave in school and the police in school spend the majority of their time dealing with a very small percentage of the school population that commit most of the crime and disorder in school. Most of the students don’t know what the school officer has done to promote safty and a good enviornment in the school so the students can easily conclude that the officer doesn’t impact school safety. It might be uncool to want police in school.
They contribute to the ‘school-to-prison pipeline’
Professor Behnken writes “Research shows that the presence of school police officers increases the likelihood that a school will report common forms of student misbehavior, like cafeteria fights and vandalism, to law enforcement agencies”. Why shouldn’t the school report these activities to law enforcement? How is the offending student held accountable. Not every transgression in school ends with an arrest.
How are the good students valued if disorderly behavior, criminal activity, and damage to school property is ignored. Again keep in mind that about 5% of the school population engages in bad behavior. The rights of the 95% good kids need to be protected.
In today’s Juvenile Justice Systems no kid is being taking from school and placed in prison unless they earned it. A juvenile has to have committed a very serious crime (homicide, rape, robbery with a weapon, serious assault) to be removed from school and sentenced to detention. Or the student has had a very long record of criminal activity (in and out of school, most likely out of school) and a Family Court Judge might sentence then to detention. Probably 10 to 20 arrests. These examples are a direct result of the juveniles behavior and has nothing to do with having an officer in their school.
They sometimes infringe on students’ rights
Students have less rights than adults do. The 1st amendment doesn’t allow students to walk out of school to protest. Students would be disciplined for cutting school without permission and would receive their punishment from the principal and not the school officer. Students lockers and book bags can be searched at anytime by the school administrators. Police in schools probably rarely search a student or their belongings because the threshold for the police to conduct a search is much higher that when a school administrator can search.
Make sure to read the article by Professor Behnken (Here) and then share your thoughts.
Future of Policing 