Reply to Reinstate School Resource Officers at MCPS

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Yeah I hate trump but I also want SROs and metal detectors. What’s happening now is BS[/quote]

If schools use wand-type metal detectors, metal detectors won't detect non-metal weapons.  The gang members will just switch to non-metallic weapon.  Only X-ray machines will work if they have well-trained guards, and they're really expensive, require a lot of maintenance, and will be removed anyway due to long lines and delays at the entrance once one goes down (think of BWI or IAD and having to stand in line..).  You could put them at the Title I's (formerly Red Zone schools), but that will just demonstrate that MCPS is racially biased.

SRO's can help target violent students, enter information into a database to help target them with the police, and ensure that they eventually are arrested or jailed.  If you're looking for SRO's to shoot it out in a HS with an Active Shooter, I don't think that will happen.  SRO's first priority would be to safely evacuate the children, versus opening up fire within the HS where a ricochet can take down little junior.  If that's your societal goal (establish a school-to-jail pipeline), just hope your kid isn't experimenting with drugs in HS - it'll ruin their life, but hey, that's how the cards fall?  That assumes there isn't an uproar (you know, all the drug using kids and parents at Churchill..).

The only recourse a police officer has is to arrest.  A police officer will never solve an issue between parents and their children.

A better method might be parent engagement.  In the majority cases, there are incidents leading up to significant events.  There is almost never an out-of-the-blue shooting.  Instead of SRO's, the schools should be working with case workers and social services.  I would rather see money spent to increasing the number of caseworkers to actively engage with parents at home.  If a parent isn't listening, or working with the school, then suspensions could be used to get their attention.[/quote]

SROs do not only arrest, as your post suggests. In fact, they rarely initiate arrests. That has already been established upthread. They absolutely do help prevent violence among students by identifying it early. I’ve sat in meetings with fellow teachers and SROs as we worked together to determine positive school-based interventions for our students with frequent behavioral infractions. It is absolutely a falsehood that their purpose is to enter students into some database to foster a school-to-prison pipeline. It’s misinformation like this that perpetuates the idea that police are bad.

As for parent engagement, that should happen as well. Why do our options have to be one or the other? SROs are a resource. Social workers are a resource. I want it all in schools, and I say that as a parent and a teacher.[/quote]

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