The school resource officer perspective: examining crime, violence, law enforcement, and education on public high school campuses

Following incidents such as the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School, governments and school districts have responded with the increased incorporation of police, also known as School Resource Officers (SROs). This critical study deconstructs the recent trend utilizing Bowles and Ginitis' 1976 theory on schooling in a capitalist society, the Prison-Industrial Complex (PIC), the School-to-Prison Pipeline (S2PP), and additional theories on crime and race. In-depth interviews were conducted with SROs from six different public high schools in Sacramento, CA. Each were asked a series of questions revealing the overall role and effects of SROs, as well as their personal explanations of student crime and violence to see if their responses were symbolic of any of the aforementioned theories. Their individual responses were analyzed and discussed in relation to the outlined theoretical framework. It was found that SROs support some of the arguments of the theory on schooling in a capitalist economy and they can also be viewed as contributors to the PIC and a S2PP. However it was also found that they counter such perspectives through additional roles they fulfill on campus such as mentoring and creating a safer learning environment. The study concludes with a raised level of concern and demand for future research which examines the role of SROs, and addresses the inequality that continues to exist within our education and criminal justice systems.