Pennsylvania's School Resource Officers

• NCJ Number: 186780
• Journal: Pennsylvania Progress Volume: 7 Issue: 1 Dated: Winter 2000 Pages: 1-8
• Author(s): Patrick Griffin
• Date Published: 2000
• Length: 8 pages
• Grant Number(s): 98-J-05-8576
• Agencies: OJJDP-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description

Annotation

This article examines Pennsylvania's School Resource Officers program.

Abstract

A School Resource Officer (SRO) is a law enforcement officer permanently assigned and specially trained to provide coverage to a school or a set of schools. The SRO works the area where education, delinquency prevention, school security, and law enforcement come together. The SRO concept was first implemented in Flint, MI, in the 1950's and there are now well-established and growing statewide programs throughout the country. North Carolina leads the Nation, with more than 500 SROs already assigned, and a State goal of an SRO in every middle and high school by the end of the year 2000. Pennsylvania has more than 60 SROs; 24 are supported by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) or the PCCD in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Department of Education, and approximately 40 are working under Federal Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) in Schools grants. The article describes some of the situations that an SRO might deal with during a typical day in his role of educator, counselor, and law enforcer. The COPS program of the U.S. Department of Justice has funded more than 1,500 SROs in 700 jurisdictions and is hiring an evaluator to assess the impact of SRO programs.