Before Christmas break, one of our sons was working on a group project for his Advanced Placement Seminar class. The topic his group chose was the value of School Resource Officers (SROs) in American schools.
The day after I proofread my son’s portion, Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wis., was devastated by an active shooter. A teacher and two students were killed, as well as the teenage shooter. Several people were injured.
While Abundant Life Christian School is a private school, they could have hired their own security. There was no SRO on site.
But an SRO wouldn’t have been present had the shooting occurred at a nearby public school either. According to “The Cap Times,” the Madison School Board voted more than four years ago to end the district’s school-based police officer program. Prior to that, the Madison Metropolitan School District had officers stationed in its four comprehensive schools for nearly 20 years.
This push to remove officers from schools was part of the national “hold police accountable” reaction after George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis. Police officer accountability is certainly something worth championing. Police who use excessive force in unnecessary situations should promptly lose their badges. But the Madison School Board went along with a temporary societal trend rather than seek to protect its most vulnerable – young school children dependent on the adults in charge to make responsible choices on their behalf.
There are numerous practical reasons to have SROs in schools. For one, being onsite enables them to quickly stop a threat. The very presence of a police vehicle in front of a school is a deterrent to crime and violence.
SROs also have opportunities to build friendly relationships with students, which promotes a positive view of police officers. Kids will often talk about information openly, whether it’s related to drugs, fighting or violence and provide SROs with necessary information.
As a substitute teacher, one of my favorite things to see in schools has been SROs with their canines. These dogs are well-trained, friendly, and put kids of any age at ease. It is often comforting for an adolescent to have the opportunity to pet a dog when changing classes. Police canines serve many purposes – everything from protection, to comfort, to sniffing for drugs.
SROs are specifically trained to stop active shooter situations. They’re trained to subdue an active shooter, as well as triage anyone who might be injured. Having lived in Hoover, Ala., for most of my life, I know where most of our police stations are located. No officer from any station could act as quickly and effectively as an SRO on site.
School districts across the nation that have gotten rid of SROs have made a critical mistake. Folks can screech about more gun laws all-the-live-long-day, but criminals do NOT follow gun laws. If a person is intent on doing harm to teachers or students in a school, the only deterrent is knowing they will be met with force.
All establishments – whether schools, grocery stores, restaurants or office buildings - are either soft targets or hard targets. All schools need to become hard targets. Hard target schools have appropriate protective measures in place to stop a threat. Hard target schools have found how to minimize existing risks and are therefore very unattractive targets for would-be shooters.
In 2018, the Federal Commission on School Safety issued a report which said:
There is no doubt that planning and training helps prepare police officers and first responders to deal with active shooters. However, because active shooter incidents are often over before law enforcement arrives on the scene, onsite personnel must be prepared to deal with an active shooter attack in the absence of trained crisis response officers.
It feels like we are living in insane times. Amid the madness, SROs are an invaluable resource in schools. In 2025, there is no reason for schools not to utilize them. Trained SROs make schools hard target buildings that are undesirable for anyone intent on doing harm. These officers are well equipped to assess potential threats before they become tragedies, address active shooter situations quickly, and ultimately save lives.
Kristin Landers is a substitute teacher and freelance writer. Landers’ previous work includes serving as Communications Director for the Alabama Policy Institute and working for Citizens Against a Legalized Lottery (CALL) to defeat legalized gambling in the state of Alabama.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to Commentary@1819News.com.
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