Tacoma high school kids return to class soon. Will armed school resource officers join them?
School resource officers (SROs) won’t be at Tacoma high school campuses as students prepare to return to hybrid in-person learning in March.
Tacoma Public Schools is embarking on a new comprehensive security plan that will evaluate new state laws and best practices for security in schools while implementing community feedback. The district’s Board of Directors voted to move forward with development of the plan Thursday.
In the meantime, the district has paused its SRO program.
“After consultation with the (Tacoma) Police Department about the direction from the School Board to reimagine how the district provides security in a new, comprehensive security plan, the district decided to pause the SRO services for the remainder of the year,” said district spokesperson Dan Voelpel.
TPD remains in conversations with the district on its security program.
“The Tacoma Police Department is committed to student safety and will continue working with the school district to implement the safety model that best fits our community,” said TPD Capt. Shawn Stringer. “While we continue discussions with the school district about what that model looks like, based on a mutual agreement with the school district, we have paused the current school resource officer program.”
SROs are Tacoma Police Department officers who are contracted by the school district to help prevent crime at campuses and develop positive relationships with students. The district has six SROs: one at each of its five comprehensive high schools and a central supervisor.
The SROs have not been on Tacoma campuses since schools were closed in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The district and TPD executed a $2.15 million agreement in 2016 for the SROs, but the district has not been paying TPD as the officers have not been at the schools. The contract is set to expire at the end of the school year.
The SRO program was pulled into the spotlight last summer after some people, including the Tacoma teachers union, voiced concern that some students, specifically students of color, might feel unsafe having armed police officers at schools.
In June, the Tacoma school board said it would evaluate the district’s relationship with the Tacoma Police Department.
At the Feb. 18 meeting, board member Enrique Leon said that Tacoma’s SROs have been positive and supportive with students, but that there are legitimate concerns from people about policing.
“We’ve had two recent large-profile issues here in the Tacoma area — the vehicle issue that happened downtown several weeks ago and then the Manny Ellis death that happened a year ago now,” Leon said. “Those are significant issues that have the community worried and feeling threatened when they see a police officer.”
Board director Lisa Keating asked how the district could better define “safety” in the district and communicate that to families.
“It’s very complicated because we do have incidences where we do need Tacoma Police Department’s support and help,” Keating said.
A survey conducted over the summer about the district’s SRO program showed that from about 2,700 responses, 43 percent supported continuing the SRO program, 51 percent did not support continuing the program and 4 percent said they’d support the program if changes were made.
It will be determined in a couple months if a new SRO contract might be part of Tacoma’s comprehensive security plan. The district must reevaluate the SRO agreement anyway to comply with new state laws requiring specific training of SROs and data collection.
The district also will evaluate other components of its security plan.
The district employs 23 campus safety officers (CSOs) and five school patrol officers (SPOs), all of whom are currently on campuses. CSOs and SPOs are not official police officers but are employed by the district. CSOs are assigned to specific schools and monitor school grounds while SPOs patrol various schools and assist in security calls. SROs are also armed with firearms, while SPOs and CSOs are not.
The announcement comes after a growing number of jurisdictions have cut ties with police departments following the death of George Floyd in police custody and ensuing protests last summer.
