Police: Evicting them from schools is foolish

Re: “School board to evaluate agreement with Tacoma police,” (TNT, 6/21).

Don’t do it! Don’t succumb to trends of removing student resource officers.

As usual we are misled by the media portraying police officers as thugs. With over 25 years in education, most working with police or SROs, I can say no SRO came close to those miscreants.

I was more effective as a teacher and an administrator knowing I had the SRO as backup.

To those who think we don’t need police enforcement on campuses and that schools should allow kids to learn from mistakes, I say that simple “learning experiences” are a thing of the past.

I routinely dealt with drugs, fights that caused injury, not to mention students with complete disregard for civility in a learning environment.

Most students are there for learning or they’re at least passive participants. Those who aren’t would make James Dean cringe.

SROs are needed in schools, and parents expect and deserve the safety they provide.

This story was originally published July 2, 2020 at 10:25 AM with the headline "Police: Evicting them from schools is foolish."