The Roles of Police Officers in Schools: Effects on the Recording and Reporting of Crime

• In Event: Special Issue for Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice “School Violence and Safety” Thematic Panel 2

Abstract

Objectives: Tests whether specific SRO roles influenced school crime and the reporting of crimes to law enforcement differently, as opposed to just examining the presence of the officers. Specifically, officers serving a law enforcement only role were examined in addition to those who also serve teaching and mentoring functions (mixed schools). Methods: The study used a constructed longitudinal sample (n = 475) from the School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS) for the years 2004, 2006, and 2008. Negative binomial regression was used to analyze crimes recorded and crimes reported to police were examined using logistic regression.
Results: Schools with SROs recorded more crime than schools without SROs for each crime type assessed, and SRO schools reported more property crimes to law enforcement than non-SRO schools. In terms of the roles assessed, law enforcement only schools recorded more property crimes than non-SRO schools but they did not report more crimes to law enforcement. Mixed schools recorded more of all crimes and reported more non-serious violent and property crimes to law enforcement. Conclusions: The findings suggest that future research should expand on this initial typology of SROs to confirm the findings that schools with mixed officers record and report more crimes.

Authors

• Deanna Devlin, University of Maryland

• Denise C. Gottfredson, University of Maryland