Race matters in how families view the issue
In the summer of 2020, after the killing of George Floyd, longstanding tensions between the Black community and law enforcement collided. Those tensions included concern over police officers who had been providing support and security in public schools.
By the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year, the Minneapolis and St. Paul public school boards severed contracts with their prospective police departments, and police officers no longer fulfilled the role of school resource officers (SRO) in many districts.
This school year, the decision about whether to use school resource officers was determined by each school district. But for many Minnesota school districts, the decision came down to what can and cannot be done to protect a student from use of excessive force.
The debate centered around a bill introduced and passed in the previous state legislative session, known as Minnesota Statute 121A.58 Corporal Punishment; Prone Restraint; and Certain Physical Holds, which was later amended.
Because the language in the law limits the use of force, many law enforcement agencies requested clarification on how they could restrain students. Attorney General Keith Ellison issued a general opinion in response to the request.
In a virtual meeting with community members on September 7, Ellison explained, “Essentially the law says if the student is not presenting a threat of deadly force, the officer cannot use a threat of deadly force,” he said. “But if a student is [presenting a threat], then the officer certainly can.”
Ellison assumed the clarification was sufficient. But shortly after it was issued, he heard from school districts wanting to continue their SRO programs, even though many law enforcement agencies would not be returning to their schools.
State legislators requested that Governor Walz call a special session to amend the language, though some school districts—including Bloomington and Edina—found ways to continue their SRO programs in accordance with the way the law is currently written.
What has made school resource officers such a hot-button issue is that community members are divided on the use of SROs, regardless of the change in language. In the virtual meeting on September 7, those who opposed SROs greatly outnumbered those who support having them in schools.
In the meeting with the attorney general, Michelle Higgins, executive director of Rebuilding the Village, was not sure why the conversation was important. “What is it that people are fighting for? To get [police officers] in?” she asked Ellison. “I’m confused as to why there’s someone on the other side fighting for them to come in and hurt our children.”
Some schools have successfully met their security needs for years without using SROs. However, “There are some people who believe that having an SRO in the school is beneficial to order and safety in the school,” Ellison said, in response.
State Representative Cedric Frazier, who was also on the call, said, “The long-term effect [of not having SROs] would really mean that folks would learn that you don’t need SROs in your school to have safety… The school district isn’t forbidding [SROs] from coming into their buildings anymore. [Law enforcement is] deciding to pull back, and they are using this law as a reason why.”
Michael Smith of the Minneapolis Commission on Civil Rights (MCCR) said that the use of school resource officers is too small to meet the security needs of students and reflects a lack of investment in education. “We have a resource officer who comes into the school and has to deal with 1,400 kids in the city, down to 600, depending on where they may be. I feel like that’s a lot for a single individual to take on,” Smith said.
“If we know the crisis that we are in right now, as far as school shootings and excessive violent crimes that are happening in our country, where is the investment in our schools in regard to the basic necessities of just metal detectors for walking into the building?”
In the virtual meeting, one of the few supporters of bringing SROs back to Minneapolis Public Schools was Lynne Crockett, a Northsider. “Our buildings are safer with SROs,” she said in the meeting. “Our SROs have relationships with our kids. And in my 22 years of involvement with Minneapolis Public Schools, North High in particular, I have never once witnessed use of force.”
Over the last 22 years, Crockett has served as staff and volunteered in MPS. During that time, she has observed school resource officers building relationships with the kids, staff and families. In fact, during a general assembly Crockett attended at Loring for her granddaughter’s last day at the elementary school, all the students were sitting on the floor listening to the principal when the door opened and Officer Mike Kirchen, who was the SRO for Lucy Laney, walked in.
“The kids jumped up and ran to him,” Crockett explained in speaking with the Spokesman. “The principal was trying to get order back. For me to see that, all kids, all colors, jumping up and running to this officer,” she continued. “Northsiders are not known for embracing White police officers.”
Mike Kirchen began his SRO career at Lucy Laney on Penn Avenue in North Minneapolis in September of 2008. After six years there he worked full-time on a program he started with another resource officer called Bike Cops for Kids.
In his interview with the Spokesman, Kirchen did not want to address the use-of-force language in the current law. But he offered that SROs get to know students on a personal level. “Those relationships that we would build all school year were so valuable,” he said. “You really have a good relationship that you nurture throughout the school year. And those kids really trust you as a police officer wearing that uniform.”
Instead of school resource officers, Minneapolis has instituted what are called community security specialists, who call 911 if a problem arises and law enforcement is required. A patrol officer is dispatched who does not have a relationship with the students in the school.
“If there was a fight, I could go up and start calling some of them by their first names and kind of de-escalating the situation,” Kirchen explained.
There were 16 resource officers in Minneapolis when the program began, and it was important to get officers who would make connections with children. Kirchen said when juvenile crimes occurred, they were able to handle it at the school level, keeping the child in school and out of the system.
In St. Paul Public Schools, support for the use of SROs is divided, according to the “SPPS Family Safety Survey Results: School Safety” survey. However, the introduction to the survey states, “Respondent demographics are not representative of the SPPS student population and family population. Most clearly, white parents and families are overrepresented in the survey responses.”
In a similar survey done with students, “Ninety-one percent of high school students who responded to the survey said they think that SSLs (School Security Liaisons) are a good idea,” said Erica Wacker, SPPS director of communications.
As part of their training, School Security Liaisons or SSLs complete two weeks of training in crisis intervention. “They are not police officers, so they can’t arrest anybody. But they carry handcuffs. They carry Narcan for overdoses,” Wacker explained. “In certain circumstances, they will call SPPD if it goes above and beyond what they can handle.”
Wacker says that although they do not use SROs, they have a strong relationship with the St. Paul Police Department (SPPD) through communication with staff, security, and their emergency management department. “It really is a collaborative effort between the schools. And when needed, the police department and other first responders are always a phone call away.”
Having to make a call is what concerns some community members like Lisa Delgado who worked as a Washington, D.C. police officer. Delgado, her brother, and her son all graduated from North High School in Minneapolis. She said SROs are essential when used correctly.
Prior to districts severing SRO contracts, Delgado said they had resource officers who were community-oriented. Though the district could only make suggestions on the officers MPD sent to schools, if the person wasn’t a good fit, MPS could request that they be removed. Over the years, this resulted in resource officers that were representative of the student body and there were few complaints.
As a result of MPS’ decision, “The officer that was at Henry graduated from Henry. The officer that was at North graduated at North,” said Delgado. “They were working in schools with their family members as students and staff.”
She also says SROs had good communication with school administrators, so if there were rumors of a child in the building with a gun or a parent showing up upset to the point where the situation is dangerous or violent, they could have a discussion about the best course of action. As it stands, when an officer is called, the school has no control over who will show up.
“If I were a police officer and I just got off a call where I had to do CPR on a baby that died, and then I got to go deal with somebody’s drama at the high school or middle school, I might not be in the right frame of mind answering that phone call,” said Delgado.
Attorney General Ellison has issued a binding legal opinion in another attempt to provide law enforcement with clarity. And the legislature is taking further action.
“Today, we are announcing a commitment to hold public hearings about SROs in the House and the Senate within the first two weeks of the 2024 legislative session,” according to a September 21 statement from state legislators. “After discussions with law-enforcement organization leaders, we all believe these latest developments will help to return SROs to schools as soon as possible.”
Further clarification of the language in the legislation and public hearings will have no impact this school year on the metro area’s two largest school systems—Minneapolis and St. Paul public schools—unless they reconsider their decision to abandon their SRO programs.