Reply to For everyone insisting MCPS reinstate SROs

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I agree that there is a need for someone with training to break up fights. But it's a failure of imagination to then insist that person must be a police officer with a gun. I've been combing through school shooting databases, some of which include instances where an SRO was the one discharging their weapon. The good news: I didn't see any instances where an SRO intentionally shot anyone without arguable justifcation. The bad news: I saw more instances where the gun went off by mistake than I did instances where it was used to neutralize a threat.

Attitudes about police vary a lot. I'm about to speak in broad generalities so please know I understand there will be many exceptions to these statements. Upper class people living comfortable lives tend to believe the police are there to protect them. This attitude extends to their children who see SROs at school and feel safe. Their day to day police interactions are pretty minimal. People living in communities with more violence, or just more policing, are a lot more wary. They may know people who've had bad run ins with cops. They may experience harrassment from cops when they're just going about their daily lives. Their children see this too. Those children may see SROs at school and feel resentment - [i]even if[/i] that particular SRO has been through the world's best training and is a perfect human in every way. The badge and gun - the things that make you feel safe - come with a lot of baggage for others.

Spend time thinking about why the presence of someone with the ability to use [b]lethal[/b] force, is necessary for you to feel safe and protected. They don't stop school shooters - we already know that. So why?[/quote]
This is a thoughtful response. Thank you.

But, I would counter:  if certain people feel "unsafe" in the presence of police, who would they call if they or their kids are being threatened, or there is an intruder in their house?

If the kids feel uncomfortable around cops, then wouldn't it be better for them to get more comfortable with police presence in an envirornment where school admin can control what the police can and cannot do?   The new MOU with the community  engagement officer in MCPS does not allow the CEO to be independent. The Principal would determine when to engage the CEO.

There have been cities that have changed the model of how police engage with the community, which more mirrors how the CEO engages with students.  In those cities, they found that the trust between the communities and the police went up. The relatiionship isn't perfect, but it improved.

Here's an example of a city trying to re-imagine how the police force works with the community:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-jersey-city-disbanded-its-police-force-here-s-what-n1231677

MoCo, at least, likes to tout how they are trying to change how the police engage with certain groups in our community. Why couldn't that change be reflected in the CEO engagement with the students?  
[/quote]

As for whether people who are mistrustful of police would call them if they or their family were in danger, this gives some really good insight: https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/88476/how_do_people_in_high-crime_view_the_police.pdf Some findings: 70% of those surveyed (people living in high-crime, high-poverty areas in different U.S. cities) said they would be likely or very likely to call police to report a crime. And 75% said all laws should be strictly obeyed. But only 30% said they personally trust the police, or that the police usually act in ways consistent with their own ideas about what is right and wrong. My interpretation of this is that they see a need for help with crime, and the police are often the only resource they have, but they have serious concerns about the police they interact with.

I think saying students should get used to cops in the form of benign SROs is missing the point. These people aren't wrong about their concerns - they have many more interactions with the police and their mistrust is justified. It seems to me that you'd want evidence that the community trusts the police [i]before[/i] setting them up in schools.

And none of this answers the question of why the person helping break up fights has to have the ability to use lethal force in a school building.[/quote]
No one said you needed lethal force to break up a fight.  But, certainly admin staff and teachers should not be required to be the ones to break up fights. In some schools there are multiple fights per day (I went to one such school.. not MCPS).

But, the violence is out of control, and CEO presence may reduce the incidence.   Removing SROs did not reduce the violence in schools.  It just showed kids that they can get away with more sh1t.[/quote]

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