KIRKSVILLE, Mo. — The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa launched an initiative to see if having police officers in schools helps students. Their research says schools with on campus law enforcement are 118% more likely to record property crimes than those that don’t. Schools that use officers primarily for student discipline and crime response report 91% more nonserious crimes, property crimes and instances of disorderly conduct.
“The fact of the matter is that there is no study that demonstrates that having these police officers embedded in the schools, walking the halls in high schools, middle schools even elementary schools with a gun at their sides keeps students more safe, said ACLU of Iowa Communications Director, Veronica Fowler. “What is demonstrated, and studies bear out is when you have these police officers in schools there are more recordings of student thefts, scuffles things like that.”
Fowler went on to say SROs many times escalate situations from students that aren’t necessarily dangerous behavior. The officer often takes these situations and sends it to juvenile court that could lead to a student receiving a record that can follow them…