- Community Policing Dispatch Photo Contest Winner: Jefferson County (Colorado) Sheriff's Office
        - COPS Office Director's Letter on SROs
        - Improving Officer Resiliency to Stress and Associated Health Outcomes
        -  Perception is Reality
        -  Some Solutions to the Reputation Crisis Impacting Policing

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### COPS Office Director's Letter on SROs

Dear colleague:

     The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community  Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) strongly believes that properly  implemented school resource officers (SROs) can positively impact the lives of our  nation’s students. Interactions with SROs should be a positive experience for young  people, and it is critical that we continue to foster the resulting relationships  of mutual respect and understanding. For this reason, the COPS Office has  provided funding for the nationwide hiring of more than 7,000 SROs since 1996.

     In school settings, young people can get to know these  officers as individuals, and can see them as professionals who are part of the  school community and there to help provide safety and security. Likewise, officers  who are present and engaged in schools get to know the students in informal and  nonadversarial settings. This familiarity can help reduce bias and negative stereotypes  on both sides and lead to strong personal relationships.

     Officers also fill critical roles as mentors and educators—teaching  students about public safety and the criminal justice system, as well as how to  keep themselves and their families safe. Finally, and perhaps most important,  officers can serve as role models for students. We’ve heard countless stories  from across the country of SROs developing one-on-one relationships with  students that led to life-long positive impacts that changed the trajectory of  their lives for the better.  

     At the same time, we understand the legitimate concerns  that have been raised about the presence of SROs in our nation’s schools. We  have seen that there is the potential for SROs to have a negative impact on  students through unnecessary arrests and improper involvement in routine school  discipline matters. If SROs are not properly hired, trained, evaluated, and  integrated into the school community—or if they are given responsibilities more  appropriately carried out by educators— negative outcomes, including violations  of students’ civil rights, can and have occurred. It is therefore incumbent  upon all of us, including law enforcement and education leaders, to do  everything we can to directly address these concerns and reduce the potential  for problems.  

     Our partnership with the U.S. Department of Education on  the development of the Safe School-based Enforcement through Collaboration,  Understanding, and Respect (SECURe) rubrics represents an important step in  that direction. These rubrics offer guidance to communities and law enforcement  agencies to help those interested in implementing the most effective SRO  programs. In addition, the rubrics can inform the efforts of state policy-makers  looking to support local implementation efforts.  The basic steps they describe align with the  most effective policing practices the COPS Office has promoted since the  inception of our SRO funding and can be found at the Safe Schools website.

     I suggest that you use this resource to generate  important discussions about your SRO programs to find new ways to make them  even more effective, so that they can continue to have a positive impact on the  lives of your community’s students. It is my hope that it will lead the way to  new opportunities for strengthening the bond between our young people and the  police who have sworn to protect and serve them. 

     Sincerely,

Ronald L. Davis, Director Office of Community Oriented Policing Services

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Community Policing Dispatch Photo Contest Winner: Jefferson County (Colorado) Sheriff's Office | COPS Office Director's Letter on SROs | Improving Officer Resiliency to Stress and Associated Health Outcomes | Perception is Reality | Some Solutions to the Reputation Crisis Impacting Policing

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