NCJ Number
177504
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 27 Issue: 2 Dated: March/April 1999 Pages: 173-192
Date Published
1999
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This study evaluated a School Resource Officer (SRO) Program in a southern city and its impact on school violence and school disciplinary problems.
Abstract
Under this program, uniformed police officers are placed in city high schools and middle schools for the purpose of creating and maintaining a safe and secure school environment. The evaluation focused on the following research issues: whether the SRO program is successful in fulfilling stated program goals and identification of the particular components of the SRO program that are having a positive effect on school violence and disciplinary problems. The study consisted of five components: a qualitative description of the program; a self-administered questionnaire to the SRO's to measure their perceptions of the SRO program, school safety, and school violence; formal and informal interviews with school personnel and students; direct observations of interactions between SRO's, school staff, and students; and secondary analyses of weekly school incident reports filed by the SRO's as well as school disciplinary records. The evaluation data show that the placement of police officers in city schools has had a positive effect on school violence and disciplinary infractions. The number of intermediate and major offenses in high schools and middle schools decreased from 3,267 in 1994-95 (before the SRO's were permanently assigned to city schools) to 2,710 in 1995-96 (after the SRO's were permanently assigned to city schools). 2 tables and 21 references