Evolving Relationship Between Schools and Police (Editorial)
More stories from Scott Bowser
Across the country, it is becoming more common for local police officers to be on campus during school hours. CHS employs their own security personal, but still cooperate with law enforcement.
Last week, the school board recognized Corporal Simon Jackson, Officer Nina Klinger and Police Chief Steve Margeson “for demonstrating that the Carlisle Police Department is a supportive service to keep the students and their families safe.”
Such an event raises the question of how much a police department should be involved with local schools. Currently, CHS’s security personal are employed by the district.
Recently, law enforcement has gained a negative reputation, especially amongst younger Americans, for instances of abuse and corruption.
However, while any case of brutality is not to be taken lightly, an entirely different story can be told on the relationship between police and schools.
64% of high schools during the 2013-2014 school year had a school resource officer present on campus.
Shootings such as Columbine and Sandy Hook have prompted an increased security presence at schools nationwide. And schools are correct in doing so. There have been reported cases of a school resource officer stopping active shootings.
When only 52% of Americans have “quite a lot” of trust in the police force, an officer being deployed to schools is an opportunity to build trust within the community.
At Wilson, a new course will teach 8th grades about “police operations, police authority and limits of authority, search and seizure, police use of force, traffic stops and how to interact with police to avoid conflict or confrontations.”
Increasing police involvement in schools through education and security creates a greater chance of tackling issues such as violence and misconduct.
Disclaimer: Articles designated as “Editorial” represent the views and opinions of the author, not the 2015-2016 Periscope staff, CHS Administration, or the CHS student body
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This is Scott Bowser, Periscope's News Section Editor. He's a junior that enjoys Netflix, tennis, and hanging out with friends. #ChipotleisLife
Lauren Peele • Mar 22, 2016 at 12:15 pm
I think that having a few police officers on campus is a good idea. Like the article stated there has been a lot of issues recently with school shootings and maybe having these officers at the school would make it harder for people to come into the school and hurt the kids. Even though there has been a bad connection with the police recently, they are here to make us safe.
madi clepper • Mar 21, 2016 at 10:21 am
i think having local police officers at our school is necessary only when needed. the security that we have at school does their job well and a lot of them if not all are former police officers so they know what their doing. if we had more serious conflicts that happened at our school then I would say police officers are needed, but as of right now nothing is serious for them to be present here.