Building a School Community Partnership with School Resource Officers

Module by: Laura Hebert

Summary: This module was developed by the Virginia Tech 2006 EdD Cohort in Summer 2007 and authored by Laura Hebert.

Building a School Community Partnership with School Resource Officers

Module by: Laura Hebert

Summary

The primary goal of this module is for the reader to become aware and appreciative of the role the School Resource Officer plays in the educational setting, most importantly the high school environment. The secondary goals are (1) to encourage school leaders to develop a positive attitude about the School Resource Officer program, (2) to familiarize school leaders with the advantages of a positive working relationship with School Resource Officers in their school, and (3) to understand the need for School Resource Officers to create a feeling of belonging to the community they serve.

Objectives

Introduction

School Resource Officers are an example of a proactive approach to decrease crime and violence in schools, while providing a more secure feeling for the neighborhoods that serve as feeder systems for these schools. The first question that must be answered when considering the relationship between school administration and their School Resource Officers is not whether or not there needs to be a relationship, but rather how to create, protect, and nourish the relationship for the good of the entire student population and school community. “Relationships between schools and their public safety partners cannot start when they first meet in the middle of a parking lot on a bomb threat,” says Ken Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services (Mertens, 2007). The relationship must be built in advance of any possible crisis situation so that a team concept can be employed. Trump goes on to say that schools and law enforcement must learn to work together and that the biggest challenge in building these relationships is addressing the gap between expectations and an understanding of how the different entities work (Mertens, 2007).

Defining the School Resource Officer

A School Resource Officer is generally defined as a police officer who is assigned to a school(s) as their full-time assignment. According to the City of Lenexa, Kansas, a School Resource Officer is similar to the police officer on the beat (cop on foot patrol) who knows the people he or she serves by name and understands their specific needs and requirements. While enforcing the law is the primary concern of law enforcement, School Resource Officers also serve a larger purpose. Students who form and maintain healthy relationships with these officers are better able to understand the roles and responsibilities of police officers, while at the same time, School Resource Officers can achieve a better understanding of student behavior. Currently, School Resource Officer programs exist in 35 states, with the first program starting in 1951 in Flint, Michigan.

A School Resource Officer has many responsibilities within the school. They serve as instructor (in Virginia they present a session titled Class Action), law enforcer, advisor, and role model. In addition, according to the Chesterfield County (Va.) Police Department, the School Resource Officers are in the schools to work in conjunction with the administration to prevent and address all incidents involving “assaults against students or school personnel, threats against school personnel, involvement with drugs or alcohol, the possession of contraband or any suspicious substance which may be illegal, or the possession of weapons.” (http://www.chesterfield.gov/publicsafety/police/sch_resource.asp). In Chesterfield, as is the case with many other localities nation-wide, basic training is mandatory before an officer is placed in a school.

Perhaps a better definition of what a School Resource Officer is and does is communicated by the Saco, Maine Police Department. According to their website (http://www.sacomaine.org/departments/police/school.html), the School Resource Officer “serves as the liaison between the Police Department and School Department providing law enforcement services as well as ensuring a safe school atmosphere by assisting in the administration of school rules and policies”.

The Relationship between a School Resource Officer and the School Administrative

Team

The Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence website (http://www.colorado.edu/cspv/publications/factsheets/safeschools/FS-SC11.html) outlines in detail the need for collaboration between police and the schools. This collaboration is the best way to increase school safety. The idea of Community Policing, using community members for help in identifying problems and becoming part of the solution is carried over to the school. The community members in this case are those groups that run the school, i.e. the administration, faculty, counselors, even the bus drivers and custodians…anyone who comes in contact with the students during the course of the school year. A partnership between the school community and law enforcement helps bring about a safe school with a focus on prevention and early intervention rather than punitive measures after the fact.

In terms of building the relationship between the school administration and the School Resource Officer, specific strategies can be employed. For instance, the School Resource Officer should be involved in any meeting that is held to discuss school safety issues. The administration should work in tandem with the School Resource Officers to conduct school safety audits and assessments. The School Resource Officer and the administrative team should cooperatively decide what programs should be implemented that would best suit the school community based on their individual knowledge of the students (instruction and safety based). A program such as the nationwide Click or Ticket is an example of something that could be modified to include student participation in the encouragement of students wearing seat belts. Another way to create or improve upon the relationship between the school administration and the School Resource Officers is to make them a member of Student Assistance programs or teams. These teams generally meet to discuss students who are at risk for various reasons. The School Resource Officers are in a great position as community liaisons to help implement a plan that will assist these students to make positive academic and social decisions. The School Resource Officer could be used in the classroom as a law-related educator. In Virginia, School Resource Officers present Class Action to introduce and reinforce concepts necessary to be a good citizen and as well as promoting trust in the police.

Identifying the Advantages to a School Resource Officer Program

According to Kennedy (2004), “the most critical role for schools…is to provide a setting conducive to learning.” It stands to reason that if a school is perceived to be unsafe, than student focus is taken off the learning process and instead is directed to feeling safe. Indicators of School Crime and Safety 2003 reports that violent crime victimization rates for students 12 to 18 years old declined from 48 incidents per 1,000 students in 1992 to 28 incidents per 1,000 students in 2001 (Kennedy, 2004). This data could be interpreted to mean that School Resource Officers have been successful at preventing crime in school. The mere presence of School Resource Officers leads to less crime and violence. Recently, at one Chesterfield County High School, rival neighborhood gangs were doing a lot of talking about a beat down that would happen at the school. Once the School Resource Officers got wind of the rumor, they notified the Chesterfield County Police Department who provided an extra School Resource Officer for a couple of days and dispatched additional patrol cars to be visible at the end of the school day. Nothing happened, and school administration attributes this to the successful operation of the School Resource Officer program and a healthy relationship between the School Resource Officer and the school administrative team.

In financial terms, larger schools are more cost-effective to run. However, bigger schools provide more real estate for crime and violence to take place. School administrators are already stretched thin when it comes to patrolling the hallways; at Manchester High School in Chesterfield County 7 administrators are responsible for approximately 2,000 students on a daily basis. Even with the advantage of surveillance cameras placed throughout the school, it is difficult to keep tabs on the students, especially during class changes. School Resource Officers who position themselves in well-traveled hallways or who eat lunch in the crowded cafeterias inevitably lend an extra face to the presence of security to a school. This is more than just a presence; it is a presence coupled with the feeling that the School Resource Officers are part of the school and the school community. They are out and about, greeting students by name and giving students who otherwise might be involved in illegal activity an option to choose a different course or even report trouble before it happens. According to Kennedy (2004), a 2001 survey of resource officers found that “92 percent of the officers said they had prevented one to 25 acts of violence per school year, and 94 percent said that students had told them ahead of time about violent incidents that were supposed to take place.”

One additional advantage to having School Resource Officers in a large school is that even though schools are often equipped with surveillance cameras, administration is just as often not trained in effectively using the cameras and the information that can be garnered from the tapes. School Resource Officers, trained in police strategies, techniques and tactics know what to look for; oftentimes it is not the obvious that helps prevent a criminal act, but something more subtle that police training affords a School Resource Officer the ability to find.

Still another advantage to the School Resource Officer program is that it offers the administration the opportunity to move from a school issue to a criminal issue and not have to wait for action to be taken. For instance, when conducting searches at schools, the administration is held to a standard less rigorous than law enforcement. Reasonable suspicion, or the belief or opinion based on the facts or circumstances, is enough for the administration to search a student’s backpack or locker. Once something illegal is found, the School Resource Officer can then become part of the investigation, as what was found by the administration becomes the probable cause that is necessary for the police to search a student. It must be pointed out, however, that the school official must act on his or her own initiative or get consent from the student if acting on the request of the police (Alexander, 2003).

Helping School Resource Officers Create a Sense of Belonging in the School

As a matter of form, School Resource Officers stand out in a school; they definitely don’t blend in. School Resource Officers are in uniform, carrying a gun. In today’s teen society, police are frequently ridiculed and students are encouraged to ignore or defy the police; i.e. the street culture of don’t be a snitch. Therefore, school leaders must work to include the School Resource Officers into the school community. Many schools, including Manchester High School (MHS) in Chesterfield County, employ their School Resource Officers on supplemental contracts as coaches. Both School Resource Officers at MHS coach – one is the JV Girl’s Softball Coach and the other coaches both Football and Track. This allows students to see the officers out of uniform and in a more personal and informal manner. Information regarding possible illegal activity could be disseminated to the officers out of school, yet the players in the illegal activity would not actually see the interaction between a uniformed police officer and a student. This is a much less threatening situation for many students.

Another option school officials have when trying to build a relationship between the school and the police is to request that the School Resource Officer have children in the school they are being assigned to. When this occurs, the School Resource Officers not only have a professional investment in school security, but also a personal reason for being vigilant. Combined with the above mentioned community involvement as coaches, the additional partnership with a parent helps the school administration make the case to other parents that school security is a serious business.

This type of School Resource Officer, one tied to the community through their own children or through coaching, for example, is crucial to helping the three-way relationship of law enforcement, the neighborhood, and school administration to be successful in creating safe schools. One way a school can be identified as safe is to analyze the data available for schools which employ School Resource Officers and break down what type of School Resource officer is there; does the School Resource Officer live in the community or does the School Resource Officer work in any other capacity for the school. MHS began using School Resource Officers over 10 years ago. A large high school by any standards, the program called for only one School Resource Officer. In the mid-1990s the School Resource Officer was a member of the community with children attending the school. In addition, the School Resource Officer coached football. Over time it was evident that arrests decreased. When a new School Resource Officer was moved into the position, it was one without children in the school and who did not have any responsibilities after school hours. Arrests increased. Today, with two School Resource Officers who have strong community ties and who both coach for the school, arrests are again down (Chesterfield County, Va. Police Department, School Resource Officer Monthly Program Reports). Clearly the argument can be made that School Resource Officers with a strong community relationship are more successful in keeping crime down in the schools and work with the administration to make prevention their number one priority.

Conclusion

School leaders, when forming school community partnerships, must see the relationship with their School Resource Officers as something that should be created, protected, and nourished. A cooperative, working relationship with these officers helps not only the school community, but also the neighborhood that feeds the school population. By working together, schools and police can lessen crime and violence, help improve academic achievement, and give a feeling of safety and security to the students.

Suggested Activities

Resources

Alexander, M. D. and Alexander, K. (2003) The Law of Schools, Students, and Teachers, (pp.178-184). St. Paul, MN: West Publishing Company.

Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence. Safe Schools Fact Sheets. Retrieved June 2, 2007 from http://www.colorado.edu/cspv/publications/factsheet/safeschools/FS-SC11.htm.

Charleston County School District, Description of the School Resource Officer Program. Retrieved June 2, 2007 from http://www.ccsdschools.com/curriculum/index.cfm

Chesterfield County, Va. Police Department, School Resource Officer Monthly Program Reports. (January 1996 – May 2007).

Chesterfield County, Va. Police Department, School Resource Officer Program. Retrieved June 2, 2007 from http://www.chesterfield.gov/publicsafety/police/sch_resource.asp

City of Lenexa, Kansas, School Resource Officer Program. Retrieved June 2, 2007 from http://www.ci.lenexa.ks.us/police/schoolresourceofficer.html

Gamiz, M. (2007, May 20). More than a minor beat; High schools find that resource officers are an integral part of their community through their actions and presence. Retrieved June 2, 2007, from http://www.innovations.Harvard.edu/news/33591.html

Kennedy, M. (2004, January 1). Providing Safe Schools. Retrieved June 2, 2007, from http://asumag.com/mag/university_providing_safe_schools/

McDevitt, J. and Panniello, J. (2005, February 28). National Assessment of School Resource Officer Programs – Survey of Students in Three Large New School Resource Officer Programs.)

Mertens, J. (2007, February) The fourth “R” in education. Law Enforcement Technology, 34, 74.

National School Safety and Security Services. School Resource Officers, School Police, and School Security Officers. Retrieved June 2, 2007 from http://www.schoolsecurity.org/resources/school-resource-officers.html

Saco, Maine Police Department, School Resource Officer Program. Retrieved June 2, 2007 from http://sacomaine.org/departments/police/school.html

Schuiteman, J. (2006, April 6). The Status of Virginia School Resource Officers 2007. Saw Enforcement Services Section, Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services.

The National Association of School Resource Officers. 2001 School Resource Officer Survey. Retrieved June 2, 2007 from http://www.schoolsecruity.org/resources/naSchool Resource Officer School Resource Officer_survey.html

Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services, School Resource Officer (SRO) Basic Training. Retrieved June 2, 2007 from http://dcjs.virginia.gov/vcess/training/0607/srosso.cfm

Comments, questions, feedback, criticisms?

Send feedback

• E-mail the author of the module, Building a School Community Partnership with School Resource Officers

Footer

More about this content: Metadata | Version History

• How to reuse and attribute this content
• How to cite and attribute this content

This work is licensed by Laura Hebert under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 2.0).

Last edited by National Council of Professors of Educational Administration on Jun 29, 2007 12:00 pm GMT-5.