The Role of School Resource Officers on Threat Assessment Teams

• In Event: Rethinking Violence, Crime, and Schools

Abstract

Behavioral threat assessment and management (BTAM) has become widely used in U.S. schools as a means of preventing student violence. BTAM teams typically include administrators, mental health professionals, and school resource officers (SRO). Critics argue that law enforcement in schools leads to excessive criminalization of student misbehavior and racial disparities in outcomes, but research on the Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines (CSTAG) found very few students were arrested, charged, or incarcerated as part of the BTAM process and racial disparities were markedly reduced or non-existent. How is it that BTAM teams with law enforcement involvement do not demonstrate these concerning outcomes? This presentation will review recent quantitative data on student outcomes and present new qualitative findings from interviews with 26 BTAM stakeholders (7 SROs, 9 district safety leads, 10 mental health professionals) across nine school districts using CSTAG. Key findings include: 1) SROs had prior interest in working with youth in schools and received specialized training before joining BTAM teams; 2) SROs worked collaboratively with other team members throughout the BTAM process; and 3) SROs maintained boundaries between discipline and legal action. Findings provide insight into how SROs can effectively support violence prevention while minimizing unnecessary legal system involvement.

Authors

• Jordan LeAnn Kerere, University of Virginia

• Jennifer Maeng, University of Virginia

• Marina Kamal, University of Virginia

• Deanne Cowley, University of Virginia

• Damara Exalto, University of Virginia

• Dewey Cornell, University of Virginia