Many district schools in the United States have hired police officers on the spot to ensure students' safety. Recently, there have been tragedies that have made police officers' need on school campuses a priority. However, supporters of police in schools have received so much criticism (DeMitchell, 2013). Some of the most recent concerns have been the "flow from school to prison," as well as the disparate racial impacts when prosecutions and arrests continue to complicate the need for police on school campuses. This article will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of police officers on school campuses. It will conclude by specifying the writer's position on whether schools should have a police presence in and around their areas.
School Resource Officers (SROs) are trained police officers to serve in designated schools (Theriot, 2009). They are usually picked up from the local police department, the county sheriff, or the state police. They receive payment from the company they work for or from the school district, or a combination of the two. As a result of the violent events found practically worldwide, schools have no choice but to ensure that the learning environment is as safe as possible. This raises the question of what to do if we have police officers in schools and compromise safety. Some schools have installed metal detectors, cameras, and access control systems (DeMitchell, 2013). Others are thinking of arming educators with others, contacting even more SROs. The effectiveness of the latter will be discussed in this paper.
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Although police officers help with a quick response in case of an ugly appearance in schools, they also act as a deterrent. Police officers, also known as school resource officers, contribute much more than the deterrence and response team. Proponents argue that the police's need is for their presence to lead to building lost relationships between young people and the police (George, 2016). Also, they provide a forum for positive interactions, which is necessary for communities but does not yet exist. Other officers are mentors and educators on the campuses they find stationed.
Extending to the above, having school resource officers' first major advantage is that they serve as educators and counselors (Theriot, 2009). Educators are free to bring officers into the classroom, where they serve as guest speakers. In the classroom, they can talk about work, sexual harassment, drug and drug use, and more. In many cases, when instructors say these things to students, they may not hear with difficulty. However, it is likely that when the police are talking about these things, students will be more careful. When students face problems that they may feel uncomfortable discussing with their instructors, they turn to ORS (Robles-Piña & Denham, 2012). SROs, help students during individual or collective crises. SROs provide a forum for students to call if they want to talk about dating, alcohol, drugs, or other topics for teenagers and young adults.
Another advantage of ORS's existence is that it provides a sense of security and protection (Robles-Piña & Denham, 2012). The main purpose of having students at school is that they can learn. However, they can be distracted from learning if they always try to hide and run away from problems. School officials and administrators know that aggressors can hide almost anywhere, from corners to bathrooms and toilets. Having police officers on campus ensures that attackers and students with different targets follow the right path. With this security, they are less inclined to behave badly or to be undisciplined. Also, schools were targeted by strangers with the intent to kill and move (Robles-Piña & Denham, 2012). Thus, the police help to discourage these elements from entering schools and respond if the elements infiltrate the school campuses.
Although the advantages may be more than disadvantages, there are still disadvantages in police officers' presence on campuses. This con is the use of force. In some cases, police officers often cross the board when dealing with undisciplined students. When they have to bring down the misbehaving student, they generally use the same force they use when dealing with violent offenders (McGinn, 2017). Students are usually left with physical injuries as well as psychological damage.
Critics would also argue that the police have several disadvantages and risks. They believe that there is a fine line between the police and the collection of information known to erode trust, leading to "increased mission" (McMullen, 2018). Also, critics say school administrators are known to report internal problems to the police that they previously dealt with. Critics do not see the need for police officers to deal with issues managed by the school's internal mechanisms. They also believe that some of the tasks that school resource officers perform can be performed by school social workers (McMullen, 2018). There is a duplication of work while the two groups compete for limited resources and funding.
In the long run, the criminalization of young people, common in the school police, is consistent. When school-age children are prosecuted, they may experience lower graduation rates and future crimes (Theriot, 2009). Also, statistically, black students, LGBTQ students, and people with disabilities are more likely to file lawsuit violations, leading to criminal prosecutions (Theriot, 2009).
Finally, the student's parents will usually file a complaint and action against the offender and the employer. When the investigation is ongoing, the SRO may be suspended without pay, or the termination may be terminated. This is not what anyone wants to happen. Even with police officers on and around school campuses, they must treat students with care and use force only if it is worth using force, which would be very rare when dealing with students.
All of this can be addressed in several ways, including training for school resource officers to address implicit or unconscious prejudice. They also need to be trained in dealing with students with a history of trauma, those with special needs, and general interactions with all those in school (George, 2016). As important as training is, the school administration and officers must sign a memorandum of understanding that implicitly shows the roles of resource officers and the lines they are not expected to cross in the performance of their duties.
The problem of hiring police officers in schools is a strong one. Strong in the sense that children should feel safe and protected whenever they enter the school campus. However, studies have shown that this is not always the case. Many students are horrified by the prospect of being harassed at school. Also, violent criminals infiltrate schools and cause untold pain and suffering to students and teachers. These acts of aggressors and criminals have a lasting impact on the mental and psychological growth of students. Because every student's goal when going to school is to learn and do it in a safe environment, it is necessary to ensure that everyone's safety is guaranteed. This article claims that school police officers will do a good job of helping schools be safe again. However, some things need to be implemented and critically considered before the police are done at a school. Police officers must sign a deadline and a statement of consent showing, in the terms involved, what the police officer's role is and what he is prevented from doing. They must be properly trained, as previously suggested. Relationship-building training is very important to ensure that they increase students' safety and workers on specific campuses .
References
DeMitchell, T. A. (2013). Locked Down and Armed: Security Responses to Violence in Our Schools. Conn. Pub. Int. LJ , 13 , 275.
George, J. (2016). Populating The Pipeline: School Policing And The Persistence Of The School-To-Prison Pipeline. Nova Law Review , 40 (3), 6.
McGinn, A. (2017). School Discipline Practices That Will Shock You, Literally: A Reevaluation of the Legal Standard for Excessive Force against Students. Am. Crim. L. Rev. , 54 , 627.
McMullen, J. G. (2018). Invisible Stripes: The Problem of Youth Criminal Records. S. Cal. Rev. L. & Soc. Just. , 27 , 1.
Robles-Piña, R. A., & Denham, M. A. (2012). School resource officers for bullying interventions: A mixed-methods analysis. Journal of school violence , 11 (1), 38-55.
Theriot, M. T. (2009). School resource officers and the criminalization of student behavior. Journal of Criminal Justice , 37 (3), 280-287.
