Guardians of the hallways? School resource officers and bullying

Abstract

Purpose School resource officers (SROs) have become commonplace in schools across the USA. Although their visibility may allow them to function as capable guardians, little research has examined their impact on less serious but more common forms of school violence, like bullying. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the presence, quantity and roles of SROs and the frequency of bullying. Design/methodology/approach Data come from the nationally representative 2006 School Survey on Crime and Safety. The relationship between SROs and bullying, controlling for other guardians, motivated offenders and school characteristics, was assessed using ordered logistic regression. Separate models were estimated for middle and high schools. Findings There was no association between the presence, quantity or role of SROs and bullying in middle or high schools; however, teacher training was associated with less frequent bullying, especially in middle schools, and the presence of motivated offenders was associated with more frequent bullying. Research limitations/implications Whether SROs reduce school violence is contested; this study found no association between SROs and bullying, a less serious but more common form of school violence. Future research should consider the roles of SROs in schools and the credibility of capable guardians. Practical implications The results caution against continuing to divert educational and social service resources to law enforcement in schools. Continued training for teachers may provide more effective guardianship against bullying. Originality/value This paper contributes to the developing literature on the effect of SROs on less serious but more common forms of school violence, like bullying.

The Relation of School Environments to Bullying Behaviours Amongst Elementary School Students

“…This is very bad for the development of students' potential in the future. This is supported by research [20] also reveals that students' positive attitudes towards school are influenced by their experiences while at school.…”

“…The results of this study have also identified that the incidence of bullying that occurs among elementary school students is seen in the school environment during recess and after school. According to [20] that Bullying behavior that is received can damage the mental condition and personality of the child, the victim will feel shy, frustrated, depressed, become closed even at a certain level the victim will feel depressed so that the tendency to think about suicide. For this condition, appropriate and quick precautions should be taken because the child is young and his/her emotions are restrained.…”

Identifying and intervening to stop school bullying: the role of school resource officers

“…Furthermore, SROs' personal characteristics and their perceived importance in bullying prevention also might influence the likelihood of intervention, based on their unique perspectives, experiences and backgrounds. Thus, these assumptions guide the current study to extend previous studies that have explored the use of school-based law enforcement in bullying prevention (Broll and Lafferty, 2018;Gerlinger and Wo, 2016;Kupchik and Farina, 2016;Paez, 2020;Robles-Piñ a and Denham, 2012).…”

“…With the emphasis moved away from their law enforcement responsibilities and toward other roles, SROs might become better integrated into a school's bullying prevention efforts. However, the relationship between the presence of SROs in schools and reported bullying incidents is still unclear (Broll and Lafferty, 2018;Choi et al, 2016). Indeed, recognizing and intervening in bullying incidents is central to ensuring the health, well-being and safety of schoolchildren.…”

“…While several prior studies have examined the role of SROs in terms of the overall safety of schools (Crawford and Burns, 2016;McKenna et al, 2016;Popp, 2012;Wolf, 2014), few have focused on their role concerning adolescent bullying Gerlinger and Wo, 2016;Kupchik and Farina, 2016;Robles-Piñ a and Denham, 2012). Specifically, there has been little research to date that investigates the role of SROs in bullying prevention (Broll and Lafferty, 2018;Paez, 2020).…”