Reinstate School Resource Officers at MCPS
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Anonymous
Black and white lids equally use drugs… but alas the enforcement of the laws are not equal. The W schools won’t allow dogs. So, no dogs. I’m sure after we sweep a school and arrest a bunch of white lids for drugs/vape pens we might rethink arresting anybody for drugs. See how that works. |
Anonymous
Your post makes zero sense. Of course our kids go to ‘these schools’. This is the MCPS forum. What does a pandemic have to do with metal detectors? And yes, we do need officers in schools. They are important in keeping schools safe. It’s not ‘other’ children who are in danger. ALL our kids are in danger, as we can see various incidents occurring at various high schools around the county. |
Anonymous
I didn't sign it the first time because of Austin but now I will. |
Anonymous
Can't fix stupid if that's what you came away with. |
Anonymous
They are required to have 30 college credits. But the thinking of "I don't like the job requirements so throw the baby out with the bathwater" is just dumb. If you don't feel like They get enough training then lobby for more. They don't have enough training therefor we don't need them is illogical. |
Anonymous
I'm the PP. Yes, of course I'm aware that SROs are not required to have a 4-year degree. I'm also aware that many people in MCPD have far more education than required, including many with advanced degrees. The same can be said for our substitute teachers who we place in front of students. They aren't required to have a college degree, but they often do... and have advanced degrees, as well. If one is okay in front of the students without a college degree, why not the other? As for "poorly trained," I would *love* to see your proof for that. What I happen to know is that the Safe to Learn Act (2018) requires a specialized SRO curriculum that focuses on promoting positive school climates, interactions with students, disability awareness, and impicit bias training. I also know that this is required on TOP of all other police training: the academy, the regular in-service trainings, etc. As for "use of force," the reason that is relevant is because of your previous statements that to have SROs we should take away their arrest powers because they might go around harassing students. That suggests you think police are dangerous. The "use of force" argument was to counter that since it proves that in the vast majority of interactions... they clearly aren't. Hopefully I've proven that I have educated myself on this subject. As somebody who teaches research skills for a living, trust that I've looked at a few scholarly articles. |
Anonymous
Except if its in social worker or counseling, how do you think a regular 4 year degree in anything is going to help? Its not. |
Anonymous
The discussion is SRO's/violence and not the pandemic. Plenty of other threads on that. Metal detectors make sense. And, x-ray equipment. |
Anonymous
oh, now it's blacks and whites use drugs equally, and not "you know who has drugs? rich white kids". So, when the Damascus rape incident happen, did you say, "We can't stop everything"? Or did you demand action from MCPS to prevent this type of situation from happening again? BTW, we don't live in a W cluster, and I'm equally happy to have SROs with drug sniffing dogs in all schools. Doesn't bother me at all. How about you? |
Anonymous
I didn’t say “we don’t need them” I said reinstating the same mess we had before again is another knee jerk reaction. How about we actually hire trained people to keep kids safe instead of people that did 30 gen ed credits at their community college. |
Anonymous
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I met an SRO once who had a girl tell him her dad had killed his gf and was keeping the body in their basement. She didn’t know who else to tell but trusted the SRO. Good SROs hear things from kids. A kid knows they can go to an SRO and say “I heard that Larlo and Tarlo have a beef in the bathroom at lunch but you didn’t hear it from me” and know the SRO won’t have to give up their name—a school counselor might and also probably wouldn’t know how to stop a fight between two kids that are really dangerous.
I 100% agree that they should have more training. All cops should have more training, especially in things that go beyond firearms. Most cops do want more training. Believe it or not most want to do their jobs better and have fewer negative and dangerous interactions with the community. They really don’t want to be hated. Police departments are so incredibly understaffed — and the top tier is often lacking in imagination—that no one has time/energy to put in training. I’d so much rather see a movement to professionalize thr PD rather than defund it. I also feel like we need a community decision about what SROs should do. If we don’t want the SROs to worry about misdemeanors like drug possession, we should just tell them that. I don’t really know where we are as a community on things like teen drug possession, but as a community it’s up to us to determine what the laws should be and how they should be enforced. Don’t blame the SROs if we tell them we want kids arrested for pot possession, and then they arrest kids for pot possssion (which it does NOT sound like they do.) |
Anonymous
Well we know black kids have drugs because SRO’s target them for drug arrests. I’d love dogs in schools. Let’s pilot it at Whitman, WJ and Wootton. Actually the white male who raped the girl at RM and then was let out on bond, I said that’s easy let’s stop letting rapists out on bond. He was a former cop btw. But that puts lots of white males in jail so that doesn’t work for white male politicians. Hmm, why didn’t the SRO stop the rape? Got an answer for that one? |
Anonymous
If you can train a 120lb female cop to stop fights you can train a counselor to stop fights. SROs do not need to be cops, perhaps they are not counselors, they need to be SROs. |
Anonymous
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Police that work with SRO's and know how useless the program is. Only criminals and anti-cops believe this. No actually people who actually understand the program think that. Take the SRO's, make the ones that have no degree get one in psychology or education and pay for it, take away arrest powers and make them live under the same code of conduct at teachers. SROs should only be involved in life saving events. They should not be glorified security guards, they should not be sitting in a room eating donuts, they should not be harassing kids for minor things that teachers can handle and principals should deal with. If they can't do the minimum to be around kids they don't belong in schools. They take washed up cops or ones that are not effective on the street or can't be trusted and they throw them in this program. Do not just take washups, recruit for this position, train for this position... act like it's not a second thought. It is clear you know nothing about the SRO program. I’m curious whether you’ve even had any interaction with an SRO. The council has done a beautiful job smearing the program. In reality, the SROs play a vital role in the school. They are not glorified security guards. (I should know. I worked for a long time in a school with both.) You act as if SROs are poorly trained and/or should be feared. You are wrong. They are trained police. Outside of schools, the vast majority of police interactions contain absolutely no use of force… like close to 99% of interactions. And within schools? Even less. In Montgomery County during the 2019-2020 school year, they initiated only nine arrests county-wide. Just nine. They are NOT a threat to students. The data doesn’t back that up. People who know… like 100% of principals… know the value the SRO has to the school. If you still have concerns, particularly if/when they are reinstated, try talking to the school and the SRO. I suspect you’ll find that your concerns are unfounded. You know SRO’s are not required to have a 4year degree. You wouldn’t even allow a teacher to teach with that little education. They are very poorly trained. They have no training for dealing with kids . If you think the 2-4 week training is “education” you should sit in on that too. It’s not a use of fired issue and the fact you don’t know the difference Seuss means you need to educate yourself. Please read some scholarly articles and research on these programs. They are required to have 30 college credits. But the thinking of "I don't like the job requirements so throw the baby out with the bathwater" is just dumb. If you don't feel like They get enough training then lobby for more. They don't have enough training therefor we don't need them is illogical. I didn’t say “we don’t need them” I said reinstating the same mess we had before again is another knee jerk reaction. How about we actually hire trained people to keep kids safe instead of people that did 30 gen ed credits at their community college. (Sorry for the bad quote job above…responding to last PP): it’s an interesting idea but I don’t know how practical it is. I’m imaginging a subdivision of MCPS that has LEO training and is certified under the state certification process for LEO; they’d likely have to be trained at the MCPD police academy but then would have additional training requirements through MCPS and maybe could do in-service jointly with MCPD on continuing LEO training? But they would be hired specifically into a MCPD police force, which would require an undergraduate degree in a relevant field, demonstrated background in working with kids, no prior criminal history, etc.? It’s an interesting idea but I think it would be challenging to put together and I’m not sure anyone would apply. Consider police applications are almost non-existent and teacher applications are also way down, where would we find the people for this job? I just don’t see it. |
Anonymous
My teen is at RM. what are you talking about? |