We are also gradually phasing-out current SSO uniforms. They will be replaced with a more scaled-down and approachable, yet readily identifiable, uniform.
I don't think it'd change much even if the officers look approachable. Officers are officers. Students will always feel tense, with just the vague presence of law enforcement looming over them.
Our new safety officers are required to complete a mandated training program that includes, but is not limited to: de-escalation and conflict management, racial equity and diversity, child development, and traumatic stress in adolescents
I still don't like this because police officers that aren't school based also go through training for racial equity and diversity, yet it has done nothing to change the injustice minority people in America face. More training really won't change as much as it tries to say it does.
in most situations, for example, Columbine, Colo., and Parkland, Fla., they have not been able to stop the violence. Additionally, there is no conclusive evidence indicating that school police reduce crime among students.
This is important to mention because the whole purpose of law enforcement officers is to keep students safe. There's no statistics proving they do. There are people saying they feel unsafe, if anything. So wouldn't that make law enforcement inside of schools counteractive?
Study after study has shown that arrest rates, particularly for Black students for minor offenses, are higher in schools that have officers, despite efforts to teach de-escalation. Arrests have terrible consequences for students.
After reading this, I thought about how it's not just about how you could get arrested. Even if you know you're a good student who would never get in trouble, the idea that arrest rates are racially inequitable against you just makes the school environment feel much more pressuring for black and other minority students.