Although research on the effectiveness of school resource officers (SROs) remains mixed, the number of SROs in the U.S. continues to grow. We interviewed 18 SROs, SRO supervisors, and school leaders from exemplar programs to explore SRO role perceptions. Analysis revealed three themes: (1) SROs support a safe learning environment via multiple…

Following increased attention to racial disparities in police use of force, national conversations have focused on the role of law enforcement, including in public schools. This study examines transparency with regard to the presence of law enforcement in schools. Leveraging novel school-level and district-level data from the state of Florida,…

College students who reside in campus dormitories at public universities have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their dorm rooms that is protected by the fourth amendment; and officials cannot search these rooms for law enforcement purposes without a valid warrant. Non-students, however, have no such reasonable expectation of privacy in…

Campus security and safety is an important feature of postsecondary education. The Department of Education is committed to assisting schools in providing students nationwide a safe environment in which to learn and to keep students, parents and employees well informed about campus security. These goals were advanced by the Crime Awareness and…

In this report, School Resource Officer (SRO) programs in four school districts are examined. The study was primarily concerned with what variables affect students' comfort level in reporting crimes to the SRO, and their perceptions of safety. The analysis was driven by data obtained through surveys of 907 students. Using these data, seven…