DON’T EXPEL SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICERS

Re: “DPS: Board votes to phase police out of schools,” June 12 news story

Taking school resource officers out of schools is wrong! If the objective is to reduce the “school to prison pipeline,” then adding well trained SROS and social workers and nurses to schools would be the answer. Of all the School Resource Officers I have trained, I have never found one who was interested in arresting a student unless absolutely necessary. They were in constant communication with educators, and mental health and social services workers trying to find ways to help the student stay out of trouble. Talk to Deputy James Englert, from Arapahoe High School, who I firmly believe saved many lives on Dec. 21, 2013, by being in the school and pursuing the killer of Claire Davis.

Please don’t shortchange these good officers! Most want the best for our students. And when something goes down in a school, they know the layout of the school so they can direct responding officers to the right places. Can you imagine a school’s readiness without SROS?

So, what about the school to prison pipeline? Yes, it is prevalent in some areas. My colleague at the CU Institute of Behavioral Science, Dr. Erin Kelly, has initial evidence that it is primarily the product of inadequate or no training. Rather than zero-tolerance policing, aka Broken Windows policing, SROS trained in Problem Oriented Policing work to understand the underlying causes of problem behaviors and help solve them in concert with counselors, teachers, social workers and administrators.

These students deserve the best, and they get the best when the team of professionals responding includes a well-trained SRO. It is a false choice, thinking you can only have SROS OR social workers OR nurses. William Woodward, Boulder

Editor’s note: Woodward is director of Training at the CU Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, and former director of the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice. Deputy James Englert, Region 10 director of the National Organization of School Resource Officers, contributed to this letter.