[1][2] They are employed by a local police or sheriff's department and work closely with administrators in an effort to create a safer environment for both students and staff.
The powers and responsibilities are similar to those of regular police officers, as they make arrests, respond to calls for service and document incidents.
[5] After Flint, Michigan, municipalities across the nation implemented SRO programs with the goal of creating stronger community ties between police and the youth and to protect the safety of students.
Fresno, California also created a new standard for school policing in 1968 to promote community relationships between the public and law enforcement.
These troubling instances raised concern about school safety leading to the most attention SRO programs had received in country history.
In 2013, President Barack Obama announced a plan to prioritize federal grant application from law enforcement agencies that were looking to hire school resources officers.
In 1994 the Congress passed the Gun-Free Schools Act in fear of the juvenile and gang violence happening across the country.
Like the United States, many secondary schools in Canada have hired security personnel to enhance the safety of staff and students.
Major cities such as Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Vancouver and Winnipeg maintain their SRO programs offered by their local city police, alongside small rural towns mainly in the provinces of West Canada with their programs offered by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police due to its rural nature.
The SRO Program was implemented by permanently placing armed, uniformed police officers in secondary schools.
Edmonton and Vancouver also had their SRO programs similarly terminated, but were later brought back citing the importance of these officers for the safety of students.
[2][21] The United States Department of Justice includes the three prongs, and adds 4) an emergency manager or planner for a school or district.
[2] Johns Hopkins University's Center for Technology in Education aggregated SROs' job descriptions across the country and identified seven comprehensive purposes for an SRO, including 1) provide law enforcement and investigation, 2) develop crime prevention programs, 3) training and securing school personnel, 4) establish a working relationship with school and students, 5) develop classes related to the position, 6) assist students in conflict resolution, and 7) be a positive role model.
School resource officers play a key role as far as gathering information in identifying and monitoring a student for follow-up after a threat has been made.
[30] A 2017 study combined crime data from the U.S. Department of Education and interviews with 20 SROs to better understand how officers are spending their time between teaching, mentorship, and law enforcement.
[31] A 2011 report from the Justice Policy Institute considered the cost of SROs as compared to other full-time employees at secondary schools.
Kerrin Wolf, an assistant professor of law at Stockton University, reviewed a series of Supreme Court decisions that have shaped the federal civil rights of students while in school.
[37] The legitimacy of school resource officers is a contentious and complex issue involving education, justice, and safety.
Positive relationships nurtured by SROs trained in cultural competency and diversity can provide mentorship and support to students and the school community.
[40] Often SROs can be resources for civil duty and community engagement and many may teach subjects related to social studies, legal systems, and political sciences.
There is also an argument that SROs helpfully enhance and legitimize the law enforcement agency's position in the local jurisdiction.
This concern has attracted attention and some studies indicate that the use of the Juvenile justice system for minor offenses aids in a phenomenon known as the "School to prison pipeline".
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) suggests that SRO programs should be designed to provide a different response for disciplinary matters as opposed to criminal offenses that occur on school grounds.
This recommendation was intended to ensure that juveniles were not receiving disparate treatment based on the presence of a law enforcement officer within their school.
"[51] However in the DOJ's Report on the response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 children and two teachers lost their lives on May 24, 2022, an examination and timeline of the responses by the SRO and law enforcement were determined to be inadequate and ultimately called a failure based on national standards, expectations, and acceptable practices.
The comprehensive review consisted of interviews, extensive location study, and collecting and combing through over 14,000 individual data items related to the incident.
Examining the impact of SROs on school climate, student perceptions of safety, sense of belonging, and trust in authority figures considering both positive and negative effects will progress the conversation.