It’s good to know there was widespread bipartisan support for a School Resource Officer bill approved recently by the Minnesota House of Representatives.
The bill was sponsored by Rep. Cedrick Frazier (DFL-New Hope) and passed on a vote of 124-8. Now it’s the Senate’s turn to consider – and hopefully approve – that bill.
In last year’s Education Bill, the State Legislature approved restrictions to use-of-force actions by police officers during in-school crises. Opposition to the terms of that legislation grew steadily, especially among police-department officials who claimed SROs could be held legally liable in use-of-force situations because they noted the language in the legislation was too ambiguous in its definition of use of force. Because of that concern, some police and sheriff’s departments decided to pull SROs from their in-school duties.
Frazier maintains his bill addressed those definitional concerns.
“The bill,” he said, “clarifies the law regarding the use-of-force in schools, retaining crucial limitations on practices such as chokeholds and establishing clear standards for the training and deployment of school resource officers.”
Frazier’s bill does prohibit SROs to get involved when there are violations of school policies. That stipulation is intended to reduce potentially confrontational engagements between SROs and students when no crimes have been committed, merely policy infractions.
The bill, as passed by the House, removes the previous ban on SROs using prone restraints. They would not be allowed to hold a student’s face down on the floor in a prone position. Last year’s restraint bill was obviously based on the George Floyd incident in Minneapolis when a policeman kneeled for nine minutes on Floyd’s neck in a street, causing his death. That police officer is now serving a long prison term.
The newly revised language in the bill now states this: “An employee or agent of a district shall not inflict any form of physical holding that restricts or impairs a pupil’s ability to breathe; restricts or impairs a pupil’s ability to communicate distress; places pressure or weight on a pupil’s head, throat, neck, chest, lungs, sternum, diaphragm, back or abdomen; or results in straddling a pupil’s torso.”
It’s to be hoped the revised SRO bill will be acceptable to officers, school officials, parents and students alike. We should urge state senators to approve that bill.
Officers in working full- or part-time in schools, sometimes called school liaison officers, have been very helpful in so many ways. They are on guard, ears and eyes open to any situations or disruptive developments that can lead to danger. They establish a good rapport with students so students can confide in SROs if they become aware of any threats of harassment or violence from another student or students. And, last but not least, SROs are trained to be alert to any sign of impending violence, such as a school shooter, and can then react to that threat and/or can immediately alert more officers to respond to the impending crisis or a crisis in progress.
Those kinds of vigilant precautions by SROs can make a major contribution to school safety, which is – as we all know too well, sadly – what all schools need these days.
