After the mass shooting at an elementary school in Texas, schools across the country pledged to strengthen security measures and increase the presence of law enforcement on campus, in part to reassure parents and students.
But police inside schools can annoy some students more and less. Especially for black students and other black students, their personal experiences with police officers can make them feel vulnerable and alienated from school when they see officers on campus.
High school principal Malika Mobley saw three different school resource officers patrolling the Raleigh, North Carolina campus. Once, on his way home from school, Mobley saw officers arrest a noticeably excited classmate and grab a student in the back of a police car.
“They shouted: ‘Why are you giving me this?’ “I did nothing,” said Moble, co-chair of the Wake County Black Student Coalition. “I just have to stand there and do nothing.”
Since 2020, the student group has supported the exclusion of police officers in school buildings to invest in counselors and student support staff.
“We don’t see the police presence as part of the solution,” Mobley said. “If you’re really wondering why the police aren’t making us safer, you can contact all sorts of tragedies that affect the most marginalized of us.”
Over the past few decades, police officers have regularly attended schools across the country, often in the form of school bailiffs tasked with establishing relationships with young people to assist in law enforcement, ensure security, and enforce laws. Critics say armed police often call on campus Black students are arrested and punished disproportionately What they call the prison pipeline from school.
Black students and other black students also have disproportionately negative police interactions in schools, from arrest or reluctance to law enforcement, says Katherine Dunn , program director of learning opportunities at the Advancement Project. Since 2007, the Advance Project has recorded at least 200 cases. School officials are attacking students, he said.
“It shows all the physical harm young people suffer from the police,” he said. “It’s also an experience of shame and crime, because you have to go around with some armed police in class who aren’t there for your safety, you see friends being arrested, your friends being attacked. “
In 2018, after the mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the state legislature passed laws requiring public schools to have law enforcement or armed personnel on campus.
Professor at the University of Florida, F. A law impact study conducted by Chris Kuran found that increasing police presence led to an increase in the number of school arrests and behavioral incidents . He said there are many factors that must be considered in deciding on the role of the school police.
“I would like to see that the conversation contains potential benefits, some reduction in certain behaviors, but also potential unintended consequences if the possibility of arresting students will increase or potentially increase racial inequality in disciplinary and arrest rates, ”Kuran said. He says.
Although there are examples of school bailiffs interfering in gun violence incidents, Kuran said that having law enforcement does not always guarantee that no shooting or other violence will occur, or that an officer will stop acting immediately. Minimize the culprit and the victim.
In a statement released this week on best school safety practices in Walton, Texas, the National Association of School Resource Officers shooting highlighted “a carefully selected and specially trained SRO on his campus as he is at school. Session. “
The nonprofit group denied the criticism that officials were promoting the prison pipeline from the school. Officials who follow its best practices are said not to restrain students because of the disciplinary issues that teachers typically deal with.
As elsewhere across the country last week, Police stepped in to Outside North Carolina Schools to reassure families after the Texas shooting.
Wake County Schools has 75 school bailiffs made up of several local law enforcement agencies.
The Wake County Black Student Coalition’s campaign to transfer officers is partly based on student reports of bad experiences with officers, including the 2017 incident in which a school bailiff was photographed taking a child woman from color and threw it to the ground, Chalina Morgan-Lopez said. , An elder who co-chairs a student group.
“I think the reasonable answer is the desire for more officers in schools, especially from people who feel really protected by law enforcement, even if it’s not my life experience,” Morgan-Lopez said. . “But I think people need to consider … that officers are doing more harm than good.”
Last summer, the school system made several changes to the school resource program, including a new grievance resolution process involving officers and training adjustments to better prepare them for the school environment, said Lisa Luten, spokeswoman for the school system. The review is based on public feedback the district has sought since the assassination of George Floyd and the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, Luten said.
“This is not a new conversation for us,” he said. “It certainly brought it back to light.”
Ma, who lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, writes about education and equality for the AP Race and Nationality team. Follow her on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/anniema15
Associated Press reports on race and ethnicity are supported in part by the Science Education Department of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. AP is solely responsible for all content.
Source: Huffpost
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.