Video of Baltimore Cop Slapping Student Reignites Big Questions About Child Training for School Cops
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March 2016: A police officer slaps and kicks a young black man outside a Baltimore high school, sparking a criminal investigation and cries for federal authorities to intervene.
October 2015: A high school girl who refuses to follow school rules is body-slammed to the ground, ripped from her chair, and thrown past rows of desks. The school resource officer鈥檚 use of force, caught on video, unleashes national outrage and costs him his job.
November 2014: An 8-year-old boy is cuffed above the elbows as a cell phone captures the scuffle. 鈥淵ou can do what we ask you to or you can suffer the consequences,鈥 the school resource officer says to the boy in a video that prompted a lawsuit over his use of restraint.
September 2015: In Irving, Texas, a boy who shows a clock to his science teacher, proud of his ingenuity, finds himself in handcuffs 鈥 accused of building a 鈥渉oax bomb.鈥
October 2015: Some 180 miles south in Round Rock, an SRO called to stop a gym fight chokes a 14-year-old boy to the floor. 聽The police officer 鈥渟hould have been trained well enough to know that this is a 130-pound child,鈥 the boy鈥檚 father tells a local TV station. 鈥淭he action that was taken was totally unnecessary.鈥
There are about 19,000 sworn police officers stationed in schools nationwide, according to U.S. Department of Justice estimates, and stories about their school discipline disasters cross Mo Canady鈥檚 desk all the time.
鈥淭he first thing I do is search our database to see 鈥楧id this person come through our training?鈥欌 said Canady, executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers, which offers specialized training to SROs 鈥 primarily on a voluntary basis. 鈥淎nd the answer is consistently 鈥榥o.鈥欌
Confrontations between armed police officers and students in schools are becoming more frequent 鈥斅燼rrests are up according to an August for the National Association of State Boards of Education 鈥斅 and more high-profile because of both cell phones and social media. They are also being increasingly scrutinized for bias and alleged brutality in the same way as encounters on the street have become between cops and adult civilians.
These incidents, youth rights activists and federal officials argue, show that the school resource officers lack the proper training needed to interact effectively with children, especially when they are black, Hispanic, or disabled. The very students, advocates say, are being funneled from the classroom to the courtroom.
鈥淚n terms of dealing with students of color, one thing that is super important and one thing we asked (officials) to do is to have training that allows people to understand the unconscious biases for their behavior,鈥 said Morgan Craven, director of the School-to-Prison Pipeline Project at Texas Appleseed. 鈥淚t can be uncomfortable for people to say 鈥業 am biased against people with color,鈥 but a majority of people in this country, and a majority of teachers, have those biases.鈥
Attempts to crack down on school violence have come at the expense of students of color and those with disabilities, who are disproportionately punished 鈥 including through restraint and arrest, U.S. Department of Education data show.
On Tuesday, cellphone video footage was released of a school resource officer a teenage boy outside of REACH Partnership School in East Baltimore 鈥 just days before the 25th anniversary of Rodney King鈥檚 historic encounter with Los Angeles police.
The school police chief and two officers who appeared in the video have been placed on administrative leave, The Baltimore Sun reports, and police have launched a criminal investigation into the incident. 聽
The U.S. Department of Justice is the Baltimore Police Department after Freddie Gray died from a spinal injury while in police custody in April 2015.
Nationally, black students were 16 percent of the total student enrollment in the 2011-12 school year but 27 percent of students referred to law enforcement and 31 percent of students involved in a school-related arrest, .
Students with disabilities represented about 12 percent of the total student population but accounted for a quarter of those arrested and referred to law enforcement, 75 percent of those who were physically restrained at school and 58 percent of those placed in seclusion or involuntary confinement. (The 74: Mississippi鈥檚 Horrifying Trend of Punishing Students Through Restraint Could Be Coming to an End)
A range of factors may cause variations in student discipline rates, but racial disparities are not caused by more misbehavior, but because 鈥渞acial discrimination in school discipline is a real problem.鈥
Assigned to schools, but not trained on students
Little data has been collected on the level of training officers receive. Only 12 states have laws that specify training requirements for officers deployed to classrooms, and those laws are inconsistent: Some states mandate training on how to respond to an active shooter. Fewer focus on dealing with children differently than adults.
鈥淎ll officers are getting a certain level of training that they鈥檙e required to get as police officers,鈥 said Nina Salomon, a senior policy analyst at the Council of State Governments Justice Center. 鈥淭he additional training that we鈥檙e talking about 鈥 on youth development, on working with youth, on prevention and de-escalation 鈥 hasn鈥檛 typically been received by the majority of law enforcement that work with youth inside a school building, or that are called to campus.鈥
Susan Mizner, disability counsel for the ACLU, said three levels of training could have helped prevent situations like the one in Kentucky where an 8-year-old boy ended up 聽crying and squirming in a chair as the school resource officer demands obedience 鈥 handcuffing him above the elbows because the cuffs were too large for his wrists.
鈥淚t鈥檚 your decision to behave this way,鈥 the officer is heard saying on the video as the boy complains of pain. 鈥淚f you want the handcuffs off, you鈥檙e going to have to behave and ask me nicely.鈥
First, Mizner said, school staff and officers should know the SRO鈥檚 job is to keep schools safe from a threat, not to engage in routine discipline.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 have that line blurred,鈥 she said. 鈥淛ust because they鈥檙e there doesn鈥檛 mean we use them. That鈥檚 the first level of training, and that鈥檚 probably the hardest piece of training for both school staff and school resource officers.鈥
But when an officer does become involved, Mizner said, training in de-escalation techniques is the second step. That includes diversion, not direct commands for compliance. And third: training to help recognize students with disabilities. 聽
鈥淪chool resource officers should understand and expect that they will be called in, primarily, to interact with kids with disabilities because our school systems really haven鈥檛 learned how to accommodate those disabilities and to work productively with most of these kids,鈥 she said, adding that in order to hold authorities accountable for this level of training, it should be required.
鈥淭here should be laws that they have, at a minimum, those three types of trainings and policies that go with them,鈥 she said. 鈥淢any more kids are hurt and traumatized by this than caught in fires in schools each year, so I see it as essential.鈥
In October 2015, the U.S. 聽Justice Department issued a in the Kentucky case, highlighting the need for SROs to be properly trained 鈥渢o recognize and respond appropriately to youth behavior that may be a manifestation of disability.鈥
鈥淎ppropriate training can help law enforcement agencies avoid interactions that violate children鈥檚 rights under federal civil rights laws, including the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act),鈥 according to the statement.
The adolescent brain
Andre Hill, a police lieutenant in Richmond, California, offers school-specific SRO training through Strategies for Youth, a national organization devoted to improving interactions between police and young people.
Officers are taught about the brain structure and capacity of youth during their adolescence and young adulthood 鈥 information that promotes positive interactions and lessens conflict.
鈥淭hat cuffing technique alone, we would never teach that,鈥 聽Hill said, referring to the Kentucky incident.
Before he was asked to lead the department鈥檚 youth services division, Hill said he didn鈥檛 realize the effect officers can have on kids鈥 lives. He does now.
鈥淓specially in urban schools, kids are hard to reach,鈥 he said. 鈥淚f they鈥檙e not getting structure at home, they are going to continue to act out, even when confronted by an authority figure.鈥
New policies in Colorado are often touted as a progressive approach. A 2012 revision in the state鈥檚 education statute set minimum requirements for SROs, so the Colorado Peace Officer Standards and Training Board developed an SRO curriculum. Before then, some departments offered extensive specialized training, others relied on a 90-minute video describing some of the problems they could encounter on the job. Some departments didn鈥檛 even do that.
Survey results from a 2012 study show most police academies do not teach recruits about research on adolescent psychology and behavior.
In 37 states, police academies spent 1 percent or less of total training hours on juvenile justice issues, by Strategies for Youth. And while most academies do not teach recruits how to respond to children with mental health, trauma-related and special education-related disorders, only one state 鈥 Tennessee 鈥 provides specific training for officers deployed to schools. In five states, police academies do not require any training focused specifically on juvenile justice issues.
Once on the job, about 80 percent of police officers said they receive department-level training in juvenile justice issues, according to an International Association of Chiefs of
Police survey, and almost 75 percent said they receive training through state-level agencies. However, most officers said they receive fewer than 10 hours of juvenile justice interview and interrogation training over their entire careers.
Hill is in the process of developing a training model to present to other officers in his 聽California department. For him, training is important, he said, because 鈥渨e don鈥檛 want to find ourselves in front of a judge being asked what kind of training is necessary.鈥
Finding the money
Last year, residents in Columbia, South Carolina approached Strategies for Youth鈥檚 founder and executive director, Lisa Thurau, with their concerns about the Richland County Sheriff鈥檚 Department 鈥斅爐he same department whose deputy, Ben Fields, was caught on video violently handling the teenage girl who refused to leave her classroom or put away her cell phone. 聽
Community members had heard horror stories about officers鈥 use of force, arrests, and suspensions in their schools, Thurau said. They asked for her help.
Strategies for Youth gave the residents a set of training recommendations, which they delivered to the sheriff鈥檚 department. Recommendations included the nonprofit organization鈥檚 five-day train-the-trainer program, which uses a police training coach and a psychologist to teach officers how to train their co-workers. They also recommended a second, three-day session.
The training would have cost the department $75,000, according to the proposal. Thurau said she provided a list of organizations that could help pay for the program but communication between the community members and the sheriff鈥檚 department fell flat.
鈥淲e encounter this in a lot of places. There is no money,鈥 she said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e increasing the demands on police and doing nothing to support or equip them to be first responders to youth and families鈥 needs.鈥
The conduct of Fields, the Spring Valley High School SRO, horrified many and prompted a criminal civil rights probe by the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Justice Department.
Fields 鈥渄id not follow proper training, did not follow proper procedure when he threw the student across the room,鈥 Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said at a news conference announcing Fields had been fired.
In this case, school officials made the first mistake when they called on a police officer to address a school discipline incident, said Dennis Parker, director of the ACLU Racial Justice Program. But once the officer was there, he should have known how to de-escalate the situation without the use of force.
鈥淚t would be good to have clear training requirements for all schools and a clear understanding of what the role of school resource officers in schools should be,鈥 Parker said. 鈥淚 think that should be part of an agreement that is entered into between the school resource officers and the school district.鈥
Under South Carolina law, police officers must complete basic training as provided or recognized by the National Association of School Resource Officers or the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy before they鈥檙e placed in schools.
But Canady, the NASRO executive director, said SROs in South Carolina, including Fields, don鈥檛 take his training because his program wasn鈥檛 approved by a state regulatory commission that certifies SRO training programs in the state.
According to the Strategies for Youth survey, state police academy recruits receive 3.5 hours of training on juvenile justice issues. This does not include training on youth development and psychology, demographic issues, or cultural influences.
Training a matter of 鈥榗ommon sense鈥
The Justice Center doesn鈥檛 see police stepping away from schools any time soon, Salomon, the senior policy analyst, said. So in 2014, the center released more than 60 policy recommendations to help ensure students are in productive classrooms, not courtrooms.
Several training requirements were recommended, starting with knowledge of the school鈥檚 code of conduct so school officials and police are on the same page. The Justice Center administered the report in coordination with the Supportive School Discipline Initiative launched in 2011 by the U.S. Attorney General and the U.S. Secretary of Education. More than 100 advisers including policymakers, school administrators, teachers, behavioral health experts, and police collaborated on the recommendations.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 take a position on whether law enforcement should be in school or not,鈥 Salomon said. 鈥淏ut if they are going to be in school, as is the case in a lot of jurisdictions around the country, then they need to have the right training, resources and support to be able to do their job well.鈥
Most members of the National Association of School Resource Officers, which does not cover every cop who works in a school, receive at least some training beyond what is required by police academies or school orientation, according to a Justice Center survey.
Training covers a variety of scenarios, including investigation protocols, active shooters, conflict resolution, addressing trauma, and working with school administrators. Some said they were trained on bullying and suicide prevention.
Canady, the NASRO executive director, gets frustrated when people say there isn鈥檛 any training available for school-based police officers. His organization has trained school resource officers for more than two decades 鈥 but 鈥渨e only train the ones that come to us.鈥
NASRO, the largest provider of school-based training, instructs about 1,500 officers each year, Canady said. His program teaches officers concepts in law enforcement, and in teaching and informal counseling.
鈥淭he SROs should become as if they鈥檙e a member of the school team, and certainly another trusted adult in the building that certainly is there to protect students, but certainly also to be aware of any criminal issues going on in the schools,鈥 Canady said. 鈥淭hey serve a lot of different roles, especially if they鈥檙e doing the job the proper way.鈥
In the 1990s, Kristen Amundson served as chairwoman of the Fairfax County, Va., school board, where she supported the growth of resource officers in her schools. Now as executive director of the National Association of State Boards of Education, she still does.
If school police are properly trained and employ community-based policing techniques, Amundson said their presence can be a 鈥済amechanger鈥 in maintaining a positive school culture. The officers鈥 presence helped steer her schools away from criminal activity.
鈥淲e never had metal detectors at the doors, we never had to move football games from night to afternoon because it was just a culture of safety, and the SRO was there to be part of it,鈥 she said.
However, since school-based police are usually recruited from law enforcement, according to聽, even officers trained by NASRO typically have years of law enforcement training and only three days of training in counseling and education.
Los Angeles Police Department Detective Richard Askew said his time as an educator and as an SRO influenced his understanding of the way children behave and interact with authority.
Before joining the LAPD, Askew worked for two years at a charter school serving at-risk students aged 16-24 who were unable to stay engaged with traditional or alternative methods. Joining LAPD鈥檚 juvenile narcotics division, Askew was planted in L.A. schools as an undercover investigator.
In 2009, he joined LAPD鈥檚 mental evaluation unit, a partnership with the department of mental health to interact with people who struggle from mental health issues. He also became a Strategies for Youth trainer.
鈥淪ROs generally have a pretty big impact on campuses for students because of their authority positions and how they鈥檙e perceived,鈥 Askew said.
Once an officer is selected as an SRO, they receive in-house training on school district policies and procedures and 40 hours of SRO training from the state police academy, he said. Just a few months ago, all of the department鈥檚 officers were taught how to avoid implicit bias.
California does have a law setting training requirements for SROs. But until standardized training is required, most of the officers who do seek additional coursework are acting out of common sense, Canady said. Police departments would ensure officers in investigations units are properly trained.
So why not those who work in schools?
鈥淥fficers working in schools, just out of the nature of the assignment, are going to become the most well-known police officers or sheriff鈥檚 deputies in your community, and you鈥檇 better have some additional training for them, and you鈥檇 better make sure it鈥檚 the right person,鈥 Canady said, 鈥渙r you鈥檙e going to wind up potentially giving your department a black eye.鈥
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