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Do Police Officers in Schools Pose a Risk to Students?

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There are currently thousands of police officers working in U.S. schools, but there are almost no state or federal laws that require them to undergo special training to work with students.

Police officers are increasingly being used to discipline students in the classroom, and infractions that once sent kids to the principal's office are now landing them in handcuffs. 

"They are having encounters with police and getting into the criminal justice system for things that would ordinarily never be a criminal interaction."

"More and more students are being pushed into the school to prison pipeline. They are having encounters with police and getting into the criminal justice system for things that would ordinarily never be a criminal interaction," says Emilio De Torre, the youth and programs director at the ACLU of Wisconsin. 

De Torre has been working with children for more than 20 years, first as a teacher and then as a community outreach leader. He conducts training sessions to teach students and parents about their rights when dealing with police officers and school officials. 

Officers have a lot of leniency when it comes to giving out things like disorderly conduct tickets. Students can be given a ticket for infractions as small as leaving class early, standing up when they’re not supposed to or talking back to teachers. The resulting ticket is often a large fine, which becomes complicated when kids try to hide what happened. 

"The more contact young people and adults had with police, the less likely they were to go to the police for assistance or help."

"Many young people will be inclined to throw that ticket away or hide it, 'cause the repercussions from mom? That's a reality. The repercussions from municipal court, they don't know what that is," he says. And that can result in some big consequences like large fines, a suspended license (sometimes before they're eligible to receive one) and even arrest warrants. 

"It is traumatizing, it is shaming. It creates an atmosphere where we are telling our children that they are criminals, that they need to be policed," De Torre says. 

And according to an informal study conducted by the ACLU, this policing has consequences far beyond the classroom. "The more contact young people and adults had with police, the less likely they were to go to the police for assistance or help, the less likely they were to report a crime, the less likely they were to reach out," he says. 

In his workshops, De Torre warns parents that their children can be detained and questioned without them present, no matter what their age. He advises students to avoid talking to police or school administrators without their parents, and suggests that legal counsel should be obtained if the offense is serious. 

Joy is a WUWM host and producer for Lake Effect.