Remove armed police officers from Tacoma schools? Not so fast. This needs more input

Since 2009, the Tacoma School District has employed five on-duty Tacoma cops, or school resource officers (SROs), to work exclusively in schools alongside unarmed security officers. Their function is twofold: Enforce laws and build positive bonds with students.

But school systems across the country such as those in Minneapolis, Denver, Oakland, Portland and Seattle are among a growing number that have decided to end or phase out this kind of police presence in schools.

Don’t be surprised if the Tacoma Public School District follows. The Tacoma Education Association recently sent a letter to the elected school board asking for immediate removal of uniformed cops from campuses.

Sparked by the deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Manuel Ellis in Tacoma and many other people of color at the hands of law enforcement, over-policing has become part of a broader conversation in the Black Lives Matter movement, and it’s led school districts to question the function of cops in schools.

But rather than bow immediately to union pressure, the Tacoma School Board prudently decided to wait to hear from more students and teachers rather than hastily sever ties with SROs.

The board tasked Superintendent Carla Santorno to examine the need for armed security and carefully consider the message that badge and gun create on school campuses.

Santorno won’t have trouble proving that SROs have been an asset; no doubt she’ll have documentation on how SROs have prevented and broken up fights in school hallways, confiscated drugs and weapons from lockers, and yes, made arrests.

The number of arrests has gone down in recent years. In 2017, Tacoma SROs made 30 arrests; in 2019 they made only 15, but multiple studies show that students of color are more likely to be the ones apprehended. And that’s why a clear examination of efficacy needs to happen – one that recognizes the role race plays in the perception of police.

As union president Angel Morton told a member of our Editorial Board, cops with guns keep some students and staff from feeling safe in their own schools; she added that some students of color will avoid the cafeteria if they know the SRO is near.

Removing SROs would not usher in a new era of unicorns and rainbows –Tacoma schools will still need security – but can this function be adequately performed by someone other than armed officers?

Morton says “yes,” that school counselors and unarmed security can fulfill these duties without traumatizing students.

Maybe so. But feelings may change when students go back to school, campus shootings start grabbing national headlines again, and Tacoma has its first major school lockdown or shooting threat. We have a long enough memory to recall the Foss High School shooting on Jan. 3, 2007, when a 17-year-old junior was killed in a hallway.

Confusion reigned that morning, along with poor communication between school officials and Tacoma police. The SRO program was one of several recommendations implemented after a review of the shooting.

The recent demand to “defund police” often heard at BLM protests means different things to different people, but in most circles, it means reallocating funds to mental health professionals, people trained and degreed in mediation, social work and deescalation.

These professionals could replace armed cops – an option that all Pierce County school districts may wish to consider.

But there’s still a potential path forward using SROs to dialogue with kids about law enforcement’s commitment to accountability. Their presence on campuses could provide both formal and informal ways for students to approach police and address concerns one on one, outside the highly charged atmosphere of a street protest.

And that education can flow both ways. At a recent school board meeting, Wilson High School Principal Bernadette Ray defended SROs, saying they’ve been a strong resource for students, answering questions about everything from traffic violations to sexual abuse.

Morton acknowledged that “most kids build a great relationship with the SROs,” but she stands behind the letter that the union sent to the school board; it states that the police presence“adds to the trauma many of our students are suffering from.”

Certainly it will take more than five SROs to cancel out the words “I can’t breathe” and the onslaught of images students continue to see of violent encounters between police and Black Americans.

But in this unprecedented moment wherein systemic racism must be ferreted out of every institution, perhaps the district can employ a new strategy and find a new role for these officers.

One thing’s for sure: When (or rather if) students return to campus this fall, no district should go back to business as usual.