"School Resource Officers: What They Can and Should Be".

           

I'm wrapping up the school shootings series early, and will have something lighter and more fun tomorrow.

For those who have been following, please share the address with your friends. I promise the articles are going to be lighter fare for awhile.

Ed

"School Resource Officers: What They Can and Should Be".

            I am outraged. I was mad enough about reaction to the Uvalde incident to start this column, and last Friday I resolved to send a draft proposal for training staff to manage mass casualty incidents in schools to Governor Greg Abbott of Texas. The objective in solving this school violence problem should not only be to increase the ability to survive these incidents, but to prevent them in the first place.

             Governor Abbott seems to feel that the priority is, again, to confront and kill the shooter. In what is clearly a public relations and political grandstanding action, Abbott has gone on record to require active shooter interdiction training in all school districts in Texas, prioritizing school police personnel, and that the training must start before the school year.

            Abbott is calling on The Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center at the University of Texas at Austin to coordinate this training. I have taken this training as well as the National School Resource Officer training course. It seems that in a time when public confidence in law enforcement cannot go any lower, Abbott is singling out this particular type of violence as an issue only law enforcement can solve. Abbott is proposing a solution that would satisfy nothing but the emotional blood lust we seem to have generated as a society. We're going to spend a great deal of time and money to train not just law enforcement officers, but school staff, in the advanced techniques of coordinated response the training teaches. Via a press release direct from the Governor’s officer, here is the Governor's letter to Pete Blair Ph.D and executive director of the AALERT Center:

 
             https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/TXGOV/2022/06/06/file_attachments/2177348/ALERRT.pdf

            AALERT consists of a specialized program of weapons and tactics to coordinate officers into an active shooter area to apprehend and, if necessary, resort to the use of lethal force against the gunman. This strategy is designed to end the scenario, not prevent it. In short, the gunman is already in the school by the time the personnel who have been trained and hopefully practiced these techniques can muster and enter the building. The idea is obviously to train as many people as possible so a team can be assembled quickly. 

            In his letter, Abbott gives the AALERT program director a two-paragraph synopsis of that training program, clearly for the public and not its Director. Along with an edict for statewide training in every school district, Abbott also calls on the ALLERT Center to compose a debrief training program based on the Uvalde incident and other relevant situations. Abbott called for this new program to be geared toward "school administrators, law enforcement personnel, and other decision makers charged with school safety in all of our public schools...This discussion will serve as a solemn reminder of the necessity for constant vigilance in every school hallway and classroom and the need for the active shooter training you provide." 

            The actual training is designed for law enforcement personnel. It would NOT be relevant to civilians, and sharing the techniques outside of law enforcement would constitute a security risk. Abbott was thoughtful enough to make training officers from the Texas Department of Public Safety available to get this training out as quickly as possible. I highly doubt Dr. Blair will agree to this for the logistic issues alone, but the press release went out. Thank God the Governor is doing something, right?

           
            A related controversy revolves around the presence of officers in schools. Governor Abbott's plan relies on the increased presence of armed officers who are being specially trained to, in effect, kill a student. The entire purpose of the School Resource Officer program was to place officers in school on a daily basis to interact with students. Building trust and cooperation with the officers, starting even at the Pre-K level, was the intention. Typical law enforcement duties were to be called upon, when necessary, in the event a crime was committed and the officer was needed to investigate. The typical practice of patrolling and looking for violations was discouraged in the training. It was my experience as an SRO that many officers were more interested in harassing the kids than trying to relate to them.

            Possession of tobacco by a minor is against the law in Texas as well as other states. (HEALTH & SAFETY § 161.252. Possession, Purchase, Consumption, or Receipt of Cigarettes, E-Cigarettes, or Tobacco Products by Minors Prohibited).  Smoking on school property and in school vehicles regardless of location was against policy in the district I served in. In spite of this, one officer I worked with was allowed to leave his assigned area at the elementary school and sit at the high school. He would routinely smoke in his patrol vehicle and do traffic stops on students driving in and out of the parking area. On more than one occasion, students driving a parent’s vehicle unaware that there were cigarettes in the glove compartment were issues a summons for possession and answerable in the local municipal court.

            Conversely, a student at the middle school was able to put three dollars in play money in a vending machine and successfully get product. The incident was reported to me one morning by the vice-principal. I asked for the play money and told him I would look into it, He doubted that I would be successful. I told him I would have the student in my office by lunch.

            I reached out to a small group of students and told them what happened. I stressed that the student was not in trouble but it was urgent that we determine what type of play money could work in the machine and to put a stop to it. A couple of hours later, a very terrified student reported to my office. 

            I assured him that there were no charges pending provided he answer a few simple questions. He stated that he was trying it for fun and when it worked, two of his friends tried it too. I asked him where he got the money and he replied "Wal-Mart". The administration agreed to take no further action and the student was sent back to class, being told he owed the school three dollars. 

            I contacted the Wal-Mart in question and had the product pulled. I then notified the US Secret Service of the incident and shared with them the brand of play money and what had happened. As a result, I was verbally disciplined for involving the Secret Service after having declined to charge the student. It was an indication to me that crime prevention was not of interest. 

            After 15 years of institutional policing, I have many stories that re-enforce both the idea that police officers belong in schools, and others that illustrate an emphasis on enforcement rather than community outreach and prevention. As I plan to use anecdotes to illustrate the various topics I will write about, I will save the good and the bad stories for later. 

            One further point about police in schools, related to the often-misunderstood concept of "De-funding the Police". Police Officers are not trained to be social workers, therapists, or medical personnel nor should they be given those roles. However, in the day-to-day duties, often having a rudimentary skill level can be lifesaving. An officer this past weekend talked a man off a bridge in Boston.  As a first responder, I was first due to emergency calls. Having been cut out of wrecked cars twice while administering life support, I also advised a student who was walking on crutches improperly how to do it without causing himself further injury. I was told by the parent through my police chief that I am "not a doctor". 

            Very often, however, I was approached by students who just needed someone to listen to them. I was assigned to the Gary Campbell Alternative School in Kaufman Texas. I worked under Mr. Campbell, who was such a model of excellence they named the school after him while he was still its principal. I formed relationships with several of the students there, some of whom I still hear from occasionally. I did everything from breaking up arguments, playing football with the students, and sitting with students after school. I taught "Introduction to the Criminal Justice System" and as a project guided students in the production of a drug awareness video.  In one instance, I had to control a very combative five-year-old who was so disruptive the driver of the bus she was on needed to be stopped.

Policing as a School Resource Officer is a varied and sometimes intense job; an experience I wouldn't trade for anything, even though I ultimately had to resign after the Superintendent’s administration failed to enforce the regular practice of what I was taught was the true purpose of the program.

            School Resource Officers have a clear place in the school system as a representative of the school administration. A low-key posture and an emphasis on service is essential to the program as it is designed. The National School Resource Officer Association sponsored a 40-hour training course which I took in 2003. It is probably the most useful and satisfying training I ever had after the Academy itself. The SRO training and the proper application of the SRO program in our schools is the pre-emptive step we must take and continue to support.

            For more information on the National Association of School Resource Officers and their training mission, please go to https://www.nasro.org/index.php