Training Vs. Reality: What School Resource Officers Are Prepared To Handle

On a typical day, school resource officers handle situations that are more typical than a school shooting – cyberbullying and truancy, for example.

By Adhiti BandlamudiDecember 9, 2019 10:00 amCrime & Justice, Education, KERA, Partner Organizations, Texas Newsroom

Adhiti Bandlamudi / WUNC

Jerico Lowery, an SRO for Pinecrest High School in Moore County, North Carolina, steps onto VirTra's stage at the Samarcand Training Facility. He's using a laser gun to shoot at the virtual gunman.

From KERA:

Nearly half – 49% – of public schools in the United States have at least one School Resource Officer on campus.

The primary basic training course, taken in the first year on the job and provided by the National Association of School Resource Officers, is 40 hours and focuses on their role as law enforcement officers in a school, de-escalation tactics and some information on mentoring students.

But while they have many opportunities for supplementary training, the majority of it focused on handling an active shooter, most SROs never experience an active shooter during their careers.

School homicides that involve multiple victims have become more frequent over the last decade, but they are still extremely rare, accounting for less than 2% of all youth homicides in the U.S.

Read more.

Guns & America is a public media reporting project on the role of guns in American life.