Can School Policing Be Trauma-Informed? Lessons from Seattle

• In Event: Police-Community Partnerships

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this papers is to describe Seattle’s School Emphasis Officer (SEO) program, a distinctive approach to school policing that aims to connect at-risk students with services and has potential to incorporate a trauma-informed approach.
Design/methodology/approach – Using qualitative data collected from a process evaluation of SEO, the authors explore elements of the program that could be adapted for the development of a trauma-informed policing (TIP) model and highlight some potential pitfalls.
Findings – SEO activities align well with trauma-informed principles of safety, promoting collaboration, and impulse management and are delivered in a context of trust-building, transparency, and responsivity. However, the program is poorly defined and has limited reach, has not been rigorously evaluated, and faces serious threats to sustainability.
Research limitations/implications – This study does not assess the effectiveness or appropriateness of TIP. A rigorous evaluation is needed to improve upon and test the model to ensure that increased contact between police and youth is effective and does not contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline.
Originality/value – To the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to describe a potential framework for TIP and lay out an agenda for further research and policy development around this idea.

Authors

• Kirsten Witherup, York College of Pennsylvania

• Charlotte Gill, George Mason University

• Denise Gottfredson, University of Maryland