Police in Schools

This co-authored book critically reviews existing literature on school resource officer (SRO) programs and presents a thorough evaluation of an SRO program offered by Peel Regional Police in Ontario, Canada. The implementation of a SRO program is a controversial response to school violence and safety issues. While some call for an increased use of police in schools, others are pushing to remove police from schools, or at least to end their involvement in routine discipline. Though many SRO programs exist around the world, little systematic research has been conducted on the topic.

The study reported in this book represents the largest and most comprehensive assessment of such programs to date. The research by Duxbury and Bennell indicates that SRO programs can provide real value for students, school staff, policing organizations, and society, but benefits rely on having programs that are well-designed, that the right officers are selected for SRO roles, and that the initiative has support from major stakeholders. Given the current conversations regarding the costs and benefits of having police officers in schools, there is a clear need to determine the value that investment in these types of proactive policing programs creates.

The book provides researchers, SROs, police agencies, school boards, school administrators, teachers, parents, and students with information about: the activities that SROs are involved in, how SROs can collaborate with schools to create safe learning environments, and whether (and how) such programs benefit the police, schools, students, and society. Easy-to-digest charts facilitate understanding, and anonymized reflections from SROs, school staff, and students are presented throughout the book to provide context.

The school years are crucial, formative years and students should feel safe. The research of Dr. Duxbury and Dr. Bennell demonstrates that when police officers are dedicated to specific schools, they increase safety and security ? through their presence or by providing a quick response to issues. The benefits of having officers dedicated to schools greatly outweigh the associated costs. As a result, this is an essential function for urban police agencies.

Chief Adam Palmer, Vancouver Police Department

Police services in Canada are constantly under pressure to do more with less, and the only way to effectively meet this significant challenge is to properly and rigorously evaluate the costs and benefits of innovative programs, such as school resource officers. It simply isn?t an option to keep doing things the way they?ve always been done, and from the perspective of a front-line police professional, I certainly appreciate the work that Dr. Duxbury and Dr. Bennell have put into this project. Discussions around the impact of specific police programs should always be evidence-based, and that can only happen when we have the kind of valuable data that is provided by this project.

Tom Stamatakis, Canadian Police Association