This research note is authored by Lucy Sorensen and Montserrat Avila and published in the Brookings Institution website at https://www.brookings.edu/articles/navigating-the-tradeoffs-of-police-in-schools/

  • Since the summer of 2020, many school districts that initially removed school resource officers (SROs) from schools in response to concerns over policing and racial justice have since reversed course and reinvested in school policing.
  • Introducing a new SRO to a school increases the reported number of gun-related offenses but decreases other forms of violent offenses.
  • SROs increase the use of suspension, expulsion, police referral, and arrest, with particularly large increases observed for Black students and students with disabilities.