ALBANY — Albany public school officials and law enforcement leaders are planning to update their School Resource Officer contract, a process which coincides with a national discussion about the proper role of these officers in the schools.
The existing contract, which defines the parameters under which police officers work with Greater Albany Public Schools to provide support and preventative visibility on school grounds, allocates $40,000 from GAPS to the city for such officers. It has expired, and so is due for an update.
Nationally, attention has focused on cases in which officers in other school resource programs who have been placed in tenuous situations, resulting in hostile confrontations between students and officers.
The most visible case was the Oct. 26 incident at Spring Valley high school in South Carolina, where Richland County Sheriff Deputy Ben Fields, called in to remove a defiant student, lost his job after the interaction turned violent. Fields has since gained support from students, and the incident has become the catalyst for a national conversation about the real and perceived role of police officers in schools.
The discussion includes an Oct. 29 article in The Atlantic, “Why Are Police Disciplining Students?” which examines the issue through the perspectives of two law professors, Seth Stoughton and Josh Gupta-Kagan, both from the University of South Carolina. The article cites the U.S. Department of Education’s 2014 publication, “Guiding Principles,” which outlines appropriate cooperation between schools and law enforcement agencies regarding school discipline.
The federal publication directs administrators to “ensure that any school-based law enforcement officers’ roles focus on improving school safety and reducing inappropriate referrals to law enforcement.”
After citing the publication, Stoughton and Gupta-Kagan claim in the Atlantic article that “schools around the country are inappropriately calling upon police to treat behavior problems as crimes.”
That's an important distinction to keep in mind locally as well, said Albany Police Lt. Alan Lynn.
“If there’s a kid running loose in the hallway, that should not be a law enforcement issue,” he said. “That should be a parent issue or a staff issue.”
Lynn said he has experienced citizen caretakers asking police to step in and help put unruly kids in line.
Does he feel as if officers sometimes are used as a "big stick?"
“Definitely,” he said. “We have parents do that same thing. They want us to come out and put the cuffs on their kids.”
But that doesn't fit the mission of the SRO program, Lynn said, which is to be a positive influence. He said when he first worked as a resource officer from 2000 to 2003, police were not called upon to enforce discipline.
“I would say, at least from my experience, that around 2012 is when it changed,” he said.
Lynn’s assessment of the SRO as a positive influence jibes with the the language in the original contract between the district and the Police Department. It declares that assigned officers will “provide positive preventative visibility on school campuses,” and develop positive relationships with school staff and students to open communication lines and foster cooperative efforts in providing a safe environment for learning.
The contract language also directs officers to “Serve as a resource to school staff and students on law enforcement issues.”
That last part, about “law enforcement issues,” is where the questions of appropriate interaction sit. Officers are on hand in case a violent situation arises or if a student becomes a danger to himself or others. Where it gets tricky is when a student is asked to leave a classroom and refuses.
Then, it becomes a trespassing issue, and that’s where an officer could end up in a delicate situation. South Albany High School Dean of Students Chad Angel told the Democrat-Herald those situations rarely if ever happen.
“From a school standpoint, we’re the ones who deal with those kids every day,” he said. “There might be an occasion where a student needs an escort maybe because they’re with Parole and Probation, but that’s outside of us.”
Greater Albany Public School District Superintendent Jim Golden said his goal is to keep law enforcement out of the majority of discipline problems.
“We do not use our SROs at all for discipline and in my opinion it’s not an appropriate use for them,” he said. “We want to see the police as another set of caring adults. It is never appropriate for us to use officers to do discipline.”
