Understanding the Training of School Resource Officers

• By Deborah Toppins
• 12/10/24

School resource officers (SROs) have been around since the late 1950s, beginning in Flint, Michigan. While the initial goal was to improve relationships between community members and police officers, the program has spread and evolved tremendously since the middle of the 20th century. Beyond simply being a presence without and around schools, SROs are now integral components of nearly every educational system in the country. But instead of being a more passive entity in schools, they have gradually become mentors to students, adding to their support network of teachers, parents, coaches, and other caring adults.

What is an SRO?

SROs are law enforcement officers. As such, they have the authority to make arrests, issue citations, and carry weapons and restraints while on school grounds. The difference between them and other law enforcement officers  is that they receive specialized training to work alongside teachers and students in both public and private schools, from elementary through high school. However, most SROs are found in high schools, according to the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO).

How are SROs Trained?

SRO training usually consists of learning about subjects such as child brain development and behavior and cybersecurity for youth at a national level. Beyond that, each state may have its own set of criteria for what an SRO needs to know before they are allowed to begin working with children in schools.

The NASRO offers training events on its website for NASRO members. Non-members have the membership fee added to their course fee. These sessions can last from 2 to 5 days and cost between $350 and $550 depending on the membership status of the attendee at the time of registration.

The basic course is described as one that “will equip officers to develop successful relationships with diverse students and to support students with disabilities and behavioral health challenges. Participants will explore relevant public safety topics, such as digital safety, human trafficking, mental health, and substance abuse, and they will learn best practices for de-escalation, behavioral threat assessment, emergency operations planning, and armed assailant response.”

The advanced SRO course “advances the SRO’s knowledge and skills as a law enforcement officer, informal counselor, and educator.”

Additional courses are available regarding subjects such as adolescent mental health and crime prevention through environmental design (also referred to as CPTED).

What Are an SRO’s Duties?

On a day-to-day basis, the specific activities that an SRO engages in may change based on where they are working and the kind of populations they are serving (gifted, special needs, arts-focused students, etc.). Their time will generally be split between policing duties (escorting people onto and off of the property, writing citations, making reports, patrolling, etc.), mentorship interactions with students (connecting them to resources, explaining safety guidelines, listening to complaints, etc.), and direct instruction (cyber security, personal safety, law enforcement careers, etc.).

Policing Children as an SRO

Policing children in a school setting differs from policing adults in public spaces. There are specific considerations and guidelines that an SRO must take into account as they go about their work. Students may have various medical conditions (autism spectrum disorder, bipolar, anxiety, etc.) that may influence their behavior. Impulse control can be poor among young minds as they are developing and may be dealing with various hormonal changes experienced during puberty. A general lack of maturity, including understanding what’s appropriate to say and do, or how what they deem comedic may be seen as threatening or otherwise problematic or concerning to an SRO may be an issue as well.

SROs may need to restrain, detain, or even arrest students based on the situation. But these are often the last resort to be employed only after a situation has escalated to the point that they are the only safe options for the student causing disruption.

Having a police presence on campus means that an immediate police response is available in times of crisis, such as an intruder arriving at the school. The seconds or minutes it can take for a police officer at a nearby police station or out on patrol to reach a school can cost children their lives.

SROs as Mentors

Mentoring the students they work with is another important aspect of being an SRO. This may not always be a formal situation in which the SRO is specifically handling the growth of a student toward a specific goal or profession. However, more informal connections can provide the kind of support and guidance that can help prevent problems for both the students and the school.

For instance, a child who is exhibiting signs of depression could eventually end up hurting themselves or others as they try to handle their condition on their own. An SRO may have the kind of rapport that works best for intervening. A student may avoid talking to a teacher or a classmate out of embarrassment. If parents are currently struggling with money, marital, or job issues, the student may not want to “burden” them with their problems. Speaking with a school counselor may seem too formal, like talking to a doctor or a therapist. The SRO can often serve to fill in the gap when a child feels like they have no one to talk to or don’t know who to talk to. In this way, instead of the SRO being the one to have to report a student for problematic behavior, or detain or restrain them if they begin acting out, they can prevent such an episode by giving the student a safe space to talk and understand how helpful reaching out to other resources (their parents, their guidance counselor, etc.) can be for helping them figure out what’s going on and start to get treated for their condition.

More Mentoring and Less Policing

Across the decades that SROs have been around, there has been a shift more toward mentoring and less toward policing. Two reasons may play a role in this transition.

First, it’s difficult to work in a place every day and not form relationships with the students and staff around you. You don’t need these bonds when you are strictly there to punish anyone you find breaking a rule or law, or simply to monitor their behavior for infractions from a distance. Building rapport and a bond with your “charges” can actually hinder you from doing your job. But SROs and administrators alike seem to have embraced the idea that SROs can grow to become an integral part of the educational experience of students in a positive way.

Second, prevention is more effective than treatment across various disciplines, including business, health, communication, and crime. This means that having an SRO be involved enough with the students to be able to notice behavioral changes, spot red flags for potential violence, and engage in other ways to prevent tragedies from taking place within schools saves lives now instead of having to mourn losses later from suicide, running away, school shootings, and other similar incidents.

Training SROs for a Brighter Future for Students

Making sure that SROs get the proper training they need in order to work with minors is essential to their effectiveness in the field. Unfortunately, when 20% of SROs report not feeling prepared to deal with a school shooter and about half report not having the training needed to work with special needs students, it becomes clear that there are some gaps in SRO education that still need to be addressed.

Time and money are two major barriers to getting SROs appropriately trained for the settings in which they will be working. For example, the basic SRO course, which is five days long, costs $500 if someone is already a NASRO member. These are not self-paced classes, but live courses that last eight full hours for those five days. This essentially means that both the police force and the school lose that person for a full work week.

Specialized supplemental courses, such as the course on youth mental health, cost additional fees and take up more time. Because of this, schools, communities, and police forces might consider pooling funding or facilitating joint fundraising efforts to get SROs the additional training needed to make them more well-rounded officers.

SRO training and duties have shifted from policing-focused to mentorship-focused based on natural interpersonal dynamics and the science showing how much more of an impact positive relationships can have on student mental health and behavior. If SRO training and involvement in schools continue this trend, SROs will become an even more critical component of creating safe learning environments that disrupt the mental health problems that can lead to undesirable outcomes like a student taking their own lives or the lives of their fellow students.