Police In Local High Schools?

So, there's a grant out there that the School District could use to fund police officers at the local high schools and potentially the local middle schools as well.  That collective 'boom' you just heard outside your window was the sound of a sizeable chunk of parents from across the school district collectively losing their shit.

The arrangement isn't really all that uncommon, despite what people around here might think.  It's a bit surprising when you haven't seen it before-  I first encountered it up in Mankato when I got a job working security at one of the local high schools (Mankato West.  Go Scarlets!) and it was a bit startling because Mankato West didn't really seem like a school you'd see in Dangerous Minds or Lean On Me but you got used to it quickly.  The School Resource Officer (SRO) had his own office, kept regular office hours, was a presence in the hallways and didn't really do much more than that.  I didn't see him break up any fights or use his billy club on any school kids--  though they did have a pretty hefty zero tolerance policy for that sort of thing.   If you assaulted someone, you were probably going to get charged with something.

But I think it also depends on the community that your school is in as well.   Johnson County is just coming off of a polarizing debate about a new jail.   There are plenty of people in this town that don't like law enforcement (some of their reasons might be more valid than others) and despite the nationwide focus on school security in the wake of things like Sandy Hook, doubters are right to point out that in the case of a school shooting an SRO could be anywhere in the school- including at the opposite end of the building- and when seconds count, a police officer might be in the building but could be a minute or two away.

Personally, I'm OK with this...  I think a police presence is always helpful and if it gives kids a chance for some potentially positive interactions with law enforcement I think it could be a good thing.  Too often, kids don't seem to want to talk to adults on a variety of issues- and while I doubt a police officer would be their first choice right away, it's another person they could talk to about things if they really wanted too- and in a 'see something, say something' world, any opportunities for kids to do both if they need too is a good thing.

Do I, however, think this will actually happen?  No.   As usual, the comments section of The Press Citizen was particularly illuminating.  This one was my favorite:

This is a bad idea...Install buzzer systems or bring in the bomb dogs, but let's not have our school hallways patrolled by armed officers….just because there is grant money to pay for these armed thugs...also, what is going to happen when a child is shot by one of these armed officers just because he was “freaking out” because his girlfriend broke up with him???...happens in High schools everyday and school personal and counselors know how to deal with it...will an armed thug???

Wow.   Let's leave aside the 'armed thug' thing for a minute and let's add this:  'Bahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!'   This is the most hysterically ridiculous thing I've ever heard.  Do people really think this about cops in this town?  Seriously?  If cops anywhere shot every distraught or hysterical person that was 'freaking out' that they came across because 'they didn't know how to deal with it' tons of people would die.   Like, tons.  Police Officers are trained to deal with hysterical people- most of whom are usually far, far more scarier than some kid who just broke up with his girlfriend.  (The other eye rolling comment was the person that wanted the SRO to 'leave his gun at the office'  Do people honestly think that police officers just walk around waving their guns around and randomly popping off shots at people?  If, IF they put officers in schools, no kid is just going to be able to walk up to the officer in the hallway and yank their sidearm out of the holster.)

So yeaaaaah, I doubt this will actually come to pass.   Certainly the school district shouldn't rush on it and it's worthy of a thoughtful, thorough study before any final decision is reached.  But I'm betting the community pushback on this will be enough to kill the notion.  (And to be honest, although I'm ten years out of Iowa City Schools my impression is that there's really not a super urgent need to implement SROs...  I could be wrong on that though.)