Under normal circumstances, when the bell rings, high school students across the nation pour into the hallways for another day at school. The uniformed police officers, although a familiar sight, stand out from the crowd as they watch over the actions of the students.
School Resource Officers, known as SROs, are law enforcement officers in schools to promote safety and crime prevention tactics. In addition, SROs act as informal counselors and educators and connect with students to create a safe learning environment.
In Montgomery County, SROs have a direct link between local police departments and high schools. They can help with crime prevention, emergency preparedness and community outreach. SROs also educate students on drug and alcohol and safety awareness, violence prevention and mediation and conflict resolution.
Many believe SROs are beneficial to prevent crimes from happening, especially in cases of school shootings.
“One of the things the public doesn’t see is how many SROs stop these kinds of situations before a round is ever fired,” Mo Canady, the Executive Director of the National Association of School Resource Officers said in a 2019 interview. “Through building relationships with students, SROs gain valuable intelligence and are able to investigate and stop these things before they ever become an issue.”
However, many people think SROs have been adding to the increase in crime. According to the Justice Policy Institute, the presence of SROs in schools are a contributor to the school-to-prison pipeline, a link between harsh policies that force minors out of the classroom and into a cell.
SROs are more commonly placed in schools with students from minority backgrounds. According to a 2018 analysis by the Urban Institute, Black or Latinx students were more likely to attend school with a police officer. Schools that were 25-50% predominantly Black or Latinx had more SROs compared to schools that were less than 10%.
In Maryland, 3,141 school-based arrests took place during the 2018-2019 school year, 83% of which were made by SROs. Of these, 56% arrested were Black despite only making up 34% of the population. In the same report, 78.5% of the 163 arrests made in Montgomery County were Black or Latinx students despite only being 27% of the population.
“These children regularly interact with police officers during the school day, putting them in greater risk of being pulled into the criminal justice system,” a 2017 Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law report said. “Daily interactions with police influence students’ perceptions of their own safety and increase their level of stress, especially among Black and Latino students.”
Many activist groups and legislators are attempting to remove SROs from schools and replace them, nationally and locally.
MoCo Against Brutality is a student-led organization that aims to end police brutality and reform the criminal justice system. They have held community events like their partnership with Young People for Progress and MCPS Teacher Action Group and a survey on Armed Police in MCPS Schools to gather testimonies on personal experiences with SROs.
In Montgomery County, Council Members Will Jawando and Hans Reimer proposed a bill that would stop the SRO program from being implemented. Jawando and Reimer hope to reallocate the $3 million to mental health professionals and Restorative Justice programs.
In July, Jawando had motioned to get rid of 12 of the current 23 SRO positions in Montgomery County, a vote that failed 5-4.
“We will keep pushing to ensure that we have more counselors & nurses to meet student needs in our schools instead of police,” Jawando said in a July 21, 2020 tweet.
With the ongoing debate about the presence of SROs, it is unclear whether the bill will be passed. However, student activists remain optimistic and are ready to continue their fight for justice, no matter the outcome.
Article by Maya Bhattiprolu of Winston Churchill High School
Photo by May Pham of Walter Johnson High School