In recent months, elected officials, political activists, students, and teachers across the country have raised concerns in opposition to having law enforcement officers permanently assigned to schools as school resource officers (SROs). School administrators and elected officials are considering removing officers from their schools, and some have already done so. As more students return to in-person learning, many are re-evaluating their opposition to SROs.

Those in opposition to SROs have long claimed that their presence has resulted in a “school to prison pipeline.” They argue that assigning officers to schools has resulted in youths being formally arrested for minor conduct issues that would have otherwise been handled informally by school staff if the SROs had not been present in the school. They have suggested that the presence of SROs has resulted in thousands of children, particularly racial minorities, being marked for life with criminal records for behaviors that previously would only have resulted in minor in-school discipline.

In this webinar, Chief Harry P. Dolan (Ret.) will discuss:

• Why SROs were assigned to schools in the first place
• The available evidence on the impact of SROs
• Alternative outcomes likely in the event that SROs are removed from schools
• The role of SROs in safeguarding the security of students and faculty
• SROs and community policing