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The Negative Side of Student Resource Officers

2 Pages 526 Words March 2018

There are approximately more than 14,000 student resource officers employed throughout the United States, the exact number is unknown because they don’t have to register in any kind of national database (NASRO.org). A student resource officer, or SRO, is a member of law enforcement who is employed at a one or more schools in a community to help to maintain the discipline of students. The main roles of an SRO in schools include helping to establish a positive relationship between civilians and police officers at a young age, ensuring a safe learning environment and providing protection for students on campus. (US News.com). Despite the seemingly positive aspects SRO’s bring to campus life, having a police officer on-site at school has not always been beneficial to the students (ACLU). Having someone employed on campus who is trained to apprehend adult criminals does more harm to students than it does good.
In recent years, the police have become much more of an intimidating force in most communities. To counter this, one of the main goals of SRO’s in schools is to build trusting relationships with students, in particular minorities or those from low-income families. Unfortunately, SRO’s are not immune to targeting students based on race, gender or sexual orientation. In an article written for ACLU, an interaction between a student resource officer and an African-American girl in which the officer mocked her for wearing “boys” clothes and corrected the way she was sitting because it wasn’t ladylike. This is a clear example of gender-based discrimination of a student. Examples of SRO’s using their power to abuse students is overwhelming. In October of 2015, SRO Ben Field’s threw a 15-year-old girl from her desk in South Carolina. She and her friend, who recorded the incident, were both charged with disruption. Officer Fields was fired a few days later but faced no charges. Incidents similar to those aforementioned will ...

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