The past school year came with the obvious challenges and concerns that Covid brought. What is best for children socially and emotionally was weighed against the challenge of ensuring that schools are safe. The events of the summer of 2020 have caused many to ask if we need police in our schools, another problem in trying to find a healthy balance between kids getting what they need to thrive and keeping them safe. Now is the time to boldly act by removing school resource officers (SROs) from our public schools.

Also read: POINT | Ousting campus cops was ill-advised

I was born and raised in the Colorado Springs and attended the oldest school district. When I was in high school a friend’s cousin died at the hands of police, a situation that traumatized us. When I returned to school, I was triggered and retraumatized every day being around armed officers. I no longer felt safe in the space I should have been comfortable in and regularly did not want to attend school.

The use of SROs has exploded in the past 20 years, an attempt to prevent the tragic school shootings that have become a regular occurrence in our country. We did this without looking at how regular police presence affect students’ well-being or behavior. Many schools have made SROs the agents of school discipline, resulting in more punitive consequences for disruptive and low-level behavior problems.

Police in schools has made the school-to-prison pipeline worse. Children as young as 10 are being ticketed and arrested in schools for minor offenses. These encounters lead to an increased involvement with law enforcement and can result in students being pushed out of schools and funneled into the justice system. It is not surprising that arrest data of SROs disproportionately affect children of color.

Discipline issues, often rooted in poverty, trauma in the home, or disabilities, should be handled by counselors and creating a supportive environment. Students should be afforded a second chance and help, rather than getting caught up in the justice system. Many school districts have found tremendous results in using restorative justice as an alternative.

Many children of color have deep trauma when encountering police officers. Stressed by academics, peer pressure, and heavy expectations, we need to ask ourselves if we are helping or hurting students who are already under pressure by placing armed officers in the environment that they spend most of their time in.

Recently the Denver Public School Board voted to eliminate resource officers from their schools and will reallocate that money to mental health supports for students. Innovative school districts across the country are doing the same, a trend that should be followed by other public schools.

There is no evidence that the use of SROs reduce crime or have made schools any safer. We must continue to recognize the disparities in our law enforcement systems, keep these systems accountable, and continue to ask whether they are doing more harm than good.

As citizens and community leaders we need to advocate to help the defund the police and reappropriate funds to services and programs that will holistically address societal problems. Teachers and districts regularly ask for more school funding to address the needs of their students. We must support funding schools and invest back into kids by hiring more counselors and offering more programs that will support students’ needs.  

We must ask ourselves what sort of environment we envision for our children. I refuse to believe that sustaining a system in which school is a place where children are afraid and are surrounded by armed officers is the nurturing and caring environment that is best. It is time to take police out of schools and have a bigger vision of what safety means for our kids.

Chauncy Johnson was a 2021 intern for state Sen. Pete Lee, D-Colorado Springs, in the Colorado General Assembly; co-hosts the MOVE podcast, and is an activist who aspires to be elected to public office.