Deploying police officers, known as school resource officers (SROs), in schools is a popular school crime prevention strategy. This study tested whether specific SRO roles, rather than the presence or absence of SROs, influenced school crime and reporting of crimes to law enforcement differently. Specifically, schools with officers serving a law enforcement only role as well as those with officers who also teach and/or mentor (“mixed SROs”), were compared with schools without officers. The study used a longitudinal sample (N = 480) from the School Survey on Crime and Safety for the years 2004, 2006, and 2008. Results suggest that the level of crime recording and reporting generally increased with SRO presence. Further, schools with law enforcement only SROs recorded more crimes than non-SRO schools, and contrary to hypotheses, schools with mixed SROs reported more crimes to law enforcement. Future research should expand on the typology of SROs used in this study.
AddingtonL. A. (2009). Cops and cameras: Public school security as a policy response to Columbine. American Behavioral Scientist, 52, 1426–1446.
2.
BegerR. R. (2002). Expansion of police power in public schools and the vanishing rights of students. Social Justice, 29, 119–130.
3.
BradyK. P.BalmerS.PhenixD. (2007).School-police partnership effectiveness in urban schools: An analysis of New York City’s impact schools initiative. Education and Urban Society, 39, 455–478.
4.
BrownB. (2006). Understanding and assessing school police officers: A conceptual and methodological comment. Journal of Criminal Justice, 34, 591–604.
5.
CookP. J.GottfredsonD. C.NaC. (2010). School crime control and prevention. In TonryM. (Ed.), Crime and justice: A review of research (pp. 313–440). Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
6.
CrewsG. A.CrewsA. D.BurtonC. E. (2013). The only thing that stops a guy with a bad policy is a guy with a good policy: An examination of the NRA’s “National School Shield: proposal. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 38, 183–199.
FinnP.ShivelyM.McDevittJ.LassiterW.RichT. (2005). Comparison of program activities and lessons learned among 19 school resource officer (SRO) programs. Retrieved fromhttp://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/209272.pdf
9.
GottfredsonG. D.GottfredsonD. C. (1985). Victimization in schools. New York, NY: Plenum Press.
10.
GottfredsonD. C.GottfredsonG. D. (2002). Quality of school-based prevention programs: Results from a national survey. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 39, 3–35.
11.
GottfredsonG. D.GotffredsonD. C.PayneA. A.GottfredsonN. A. (2005).School climate predictors of school disorder: Results from a national study of delinquency prevention in schools. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 42, 412–444.
12.
GregoryA.CornellD. (2009). “Tolerating” adolescent needs: Moving zero tolerance policies in high school. Theory into Practice, 48, 106–113.
13.
JacksonA. (2002). Police-school resource officers’ and students’ perception of the police and offending. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, 25, 631–650.
14.
JamesN.McCallionG. (2013). School resource officers: Law enforcement officers in schools. Congressional Service Research, 1–35.
15.
JenningsW. G.KheyD. N.MaskalyJ.DonnerC. M. (2011). Evaluating the relationship between law enforcement and school security measures and violent crime in schools. Journal of Police Crisis Negotiations, 11, 109–124.
16.
JohnsonI. M. (1999). School violence: The effectiveness of a school resource officer program in a southern city. Journal of Criminal Justice, 27, 173–192.
17.
KalvenH.Jr.ZeiselH. (1966). The American Jury. Boston, MA: Little Brown.
18.
KaufmanP.ChenX.ChoyS. P.RuddyS. A.MillerA. K.ChandlerK. A.,…KlausP. (1999). Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 1999.U.S. Departments of Education and Justice (NCES 1999– 057/NCJ-178906). Washington, DC.
19.
MayD. C.FesselS. D.MeansS. (2004). Predictors of principals’ perceptions of school resource officer effectiveness in Kentucky. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 29, 75–93.
20.
MorganR. E.Musu-GilletteL.RobersS.ZhangA. (2015). Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2014. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, and Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.
21.
NaC.GottfredsonD. C. (2011). Police officers in schools: Effects on school crime and the processing of offending behaviors. Justice Quarterly, 30, 619–650.
22.
OsgoodD. W. (2000). Poisson-based regression analysis of aggregate crime rates. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 16, 21–43.
23.
PaternosterR.BrameR.BachmanR.ShermanL. W. (1997). Do fair procedures matter? The effect of procedural justice on spouse assault. Law & Society Review, 31, 163–204.
24.
PetrosinoA.GuckenburgS.FroniusT. (2012). Policing schools’ strategies: A review of the evaluation evidence. Journal of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation, 8, 80–101.
25.
RobersS.KempJ.TrumanJ. (2013). Indicators of School Crime and Safety:2012 (NCES 2013-036/ NCJ 241446). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, and Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.
26.
RuddyS. A.NeimanS.HryczaniukC. A.ThomasT. L.ParmerR. J. (2010). 2007–08 School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS) Survey Documentation for Public-Use Data File Users (NCES 2010-307). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.
27.
TheriotM. T. (2009). School resource officers and the criminalization of student behavior. Journal of Criminal Justice, 37, 280–287.
28.
TheriotM. T. (2013). The impact of school resource officer interaction on students’ feelings about school and school police. Crime & Delinquency, 20, 1–24.
29.
ThomasB.TowvimL.RosiakJ.AndersonK. (2013). School Resource Officers: Steps to effective school-based law enforcement. National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention (Vol. 7).
30.
TonsagerK.NeimanS.HryczaniukC.GuanX. (2010). School Survey on Crime and Safety: 2007–08, Public-Use Data File Codebook (NCES 2010-334). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.
TylerT. R.FaganJ. (2008). Legitimacy and cooperation: Why do people help the police fight crime in their communities?Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, 6, 231–275.
