THE POLICE PROBLEM

Pretty long article, talks about the problem at length. Worth a read.

Some points:

• Atlanta Public Schools police department as an example where student arrests were high until 2018, when they course corrected: "They trained their SROs to focus on helping students to reach graduation, rather than making arrests." Mentions elsewhere in article: "Ron Applin, chief of police for Atlanta Public Schools, says they've never arrested an elementary school child in his six years running the department."

• Virginia as having a statewide problem where their elementary student arrest rate is absurdly high (sad lol???) : "Virginia has taken a different approach. Schools there arrested kids in elementary schools at five times the rate for the U.S. overall during the 2017-2018 school year, according to CBS News' analysis of Education Department data."

• Points out that low-income students, students of color, and students with disability are the most at risk for being arrested.

• Points out the perspective of SROs (school resource officers) have toward their students is dependent on their economic status:

SROs who worked with low-income students and students of color "define the threat as students themselves," Kupchik (sociology and criminal justice professor at University of Delaware) said. "Whereas the SROs who work in wealthier, whiter school areas define the threat as something external that can happen to the children."

"It's an external threat for the more privileged kids," Kupchik said. "As opposed to students in the schools with more students of color, low-income students, where they're seen as the threats themselves."

• Provides an example of the response from the federal government: "The U.S. Department of Education issued new guidance on school discipline in July, requiring school officials to evaluate a student with disabilities before disciplining them."

• Provides an example of the response from a local government: "On Thursday, Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia, from Houston, introduced a resolution to encourage local and state governments to prohibit the physical restraining of elementary school-age children."

• Article questions whether SROs even make schools safer: "There is some disagreement [among experts]," Kupchik said. "There have been some studies showing that police officers in schools can prevent some crime and misbehavior, but there are far greater numbers of studies finding the opposite, that they either have no impact or in some cases can increase crime. What they do all show consistently is that while we're not sure about any benefits, there are clear and consistent problems with putting police in schools."

• Article closes out by talking about not only the negative impact of police actions themselves and the trauma it inflicts in the moment, but the potential future effects of said trauma: "The father of one child told CBS News Colorado his child, who was arrested at age 5 and had documented disabilities, "regressed significantly" after the incident and even had to move to a residential treatment facility to receive more intensive care."