Money spent for SROs should be redirected

Dear Editor:

The Daily Freeman recently published an article about a proposal by community group Rise Up Kingston to remove school resource officers (SROs) from Kingston school district buildings (“Kingston group wants police officers removed from schools in district,” June 30, 2020).

While the article did its best to remain impartial, almost all the comments I have heard from other readers amount to a superficial panic over the supposed safety these SROs provide.

Since the introduction of SROs in the 1950s, the assumption has been they are necessary for safety in public schools. However, there is no evidence to suggest SROs actually prevent crime, including school shootings, anywhere in the

U.S. All the evidence that we do have supports the argument that officers in schools disproportionately arrest people of color, disabled people and members of the LGBTQ+ community, further developing the school-to-prison pipeline.

Furthermore, if you wish to make the argument that their role is not to prevent crime but to be a liaison for community agencies and organizations that assist youths and families, or to offer peer mediation and conflict resolution, I ask you this: Would a certified counselor or mental health professional, someone who undergoes hundreds of hours of training for these specific situations (including multiple degrees), as opposed to the few weeks of training an officer needs, not be better suited to these tasks?

In the case of Kingston, and many other communities in this country, I, for one, believe the money spent on SROs could be reallocated to these causes instead.

Sam Cohen

Hurley