Law Enforcement Involvement in School Safety Efforts: The Influence of School-Law Enforcement Relationships

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Abstract

Prevention and management of safety concerns in the school system remain important for law enforcement and school administrators. However, the formality of the relationship between schools and law enforcement agencies can vary greatly, which might influence the roles that law enforcement officers have and the activities they engage in within schools. To understand this relationship, the current study examined school self-assessment-, external assessment-, as well as law enforcement-, and school-specific surveys from 510 schools in the Midwestern United States. Survey questions encompassed law enforcement officers’ roles, duties, and activities performed within schools. Analyses explored the associations between law enforcement’s level of engagement with schools and the activities they engaged in. The findings demonstrated that officers working with schools that had a formally defined relationship with law enforcement were more likely to be on safety-related school teams (X2(1) = 15.972, p <.001), and engage in certain safety, education, and other liaison activities (e.g., serve as an informal counselor, X2 (1) = 17.583, p < .001) to a greater extent than officers informally working with schools. Conclusively, the formality of schools’ relationship with law enforcement is associated with the organization of law enforcement’s involvement in safety and security activities within schools.

Authors

• Rasmus Grydehøj, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

• Mario J. Scalora, University of Nebraska - Lincoln