The following statement may be attributed to Mo Canady, Executive Director, National Association of School Resource Officers. To schedule an interview with Mo, see the media contact below.
March 30, 2021 – HOOVER, Ala. – The National Association of School Resource Officers condemns the way two Maryland patrol officers reportedly dealt with a five-year-old child. News reports indicate that the officers handcuffed and verbally abused the child after he ran off campus and his school requested police assistance.
This incident reinforces our concern about potential unintended consequences of removing carefully selected, specifically trained school resource officers (SROs) from schools. Without SROs, schools must rely on patrol officers to respond to incidents. Patrol officers are critical to the safety of our communities, but they often lack extensive training in how to appropriately interact with children and youth. And for some patrol officers, working with children is simply not their gift.
In addition, most patrol officers don’t deal with children and youth on a day-to-day basis, and often lack a good understanding of childhood brain development and behavior.
SRO programs that adhere to national best practices and use only carefully selected, specifically trained school resource officers, however, can mitigate such consequences.
Such SROs are in their positions because they enjoy working with children and have demonstrated an ability to interact with them (e.g., via volunteering in youth sports, etc.). They lack any record of disciplinary action for behavior involving children. They have received at least 40 hours of specialized, role-specific training that includes topics such as understanding the developing brain and building positive relationships with children. They operate under a memorandum of understanding that unambiguously describes their roles on campus.
Some incidents on campuses require the involvement of police officers. Students are much better off when the officers involved are carefully selected, specifically trained school resource officers.
About NASRO
NASRO is a nonprofit organization for school-based law enforcement officers, school administrators, and school security and safety professionals working as partners to protect students, school faculty and staff, and the schools they attend. NASRO is headquartered in Hoover, Alabama, and was established in 1991. For more information, visit www.nasro.org.
Media Contact:
Jay Farlow
Jani Spede Public Relations
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