A Consideration of How Police Contact Impacts Students Perceptions of Police at School

• In Event: Community and School Safety: Meanings and Methods for Enhancing Feelings of Safety

Abstract

Purpose: Although research tends to find detrimental effects of police in school, such as contributing to the school-to-prison pipeline, other work highlights how students tend to have positive attitudes toward school resource officers. The current study aims to better understand this contradiction by identifying factors contributing to why students feel unsafe when police are in school.

Methods: We use data from over 3,600 middle and high school students across six St. Louis County, Missouri school districts to examine how various perceptions and experiences in school, including police contact, impact feelings of safety when police are present in the school.

Results: Preliminary results indicate that police contact reduces feelings of safety when police are in school; however, perceptions of treatment by police suggest the association is spurious.

Conclusion: This study will help better understand why certain students feel unsafe when police are in school and can help reconcile discrepancies in the literature suggesting positive/negative impacts of law enforcement in educational settings.

Authors

• Ellen M. McLeod, University of Memphis

• Timothy McCuddy, University of Memphis