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Safe School-based Enforcement through Collaboration, 

Understanding, and Respect

SECURe

Local Implementation Rubric

What is the SECURe Local Implementation Rubric? 

The U.S. Departments of Education (ED) and Justice (DOJ) have designed the SECURe Local 

Implementation Rubric to help school districts, schools, and law enforcement agencies determine 

the type of school-police partnership that will be most effective in their community and, where 

appropriate, to incorporate school-based law enforcement officers, commonly referred to as school 

resource officers (SROs), into the school learning environment. This rubric includes five suggested 

action steps to ensure safe school-based enforcement though collaboration, understanding, and respect 

within a community’s schools. Each action step below is based on research and evidence and reflects 

examples of existing school and law enforcement partnerships across the country. 

How do school districts and local law enforcement agencies use the SECURe Local 

Implementation Rubric?

Jurisdictions can use the Checklist to Start for implementing new school-police partnerships; or, if 

they have a school-police partnership, as a checklist to assess their existing program. The Checklist to 

Improve is for improving existing partnerships for responsible and innovative school safety 

management practices that include the presence of SROs in schools. The Checklist to Improve can 

also be used by jurisdictions with new school-police partnerships after they complete the steps in the 

Checklist to Start. 

Who should use the SECURe Local Implementation Rubric? 

This SECURe Rubric can be used by the school district and local law enforcement officials (including 

sheriffs, deputies, heads of policy departments, SRO chiefs, and organizations representing SROs ) 

responsible for crafting, implementing, evaluating, and improving memoranda of understanding 

(MOUs) that explicitly articulate the role of law enforcement and school resource officers (SROs) in 

schools. As appropriate, this rubric may be of assistance to local school board members, 

superintendents, assistant superintendents, principals, and vice/assistant principals. 
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What are the SECURe Rubric Action Steps?

The SECURe Rubric includes five common-sense action steps that can help ensure that SROs are 

incorporated responsibly into school learning environments. These action steps are: 

1. Create sustainable partnerships and formalize MOUs among school districts, local law 

enforcement agencies, juvenile justice entities,

1 and civil rights and community stakeholders. 

2. Ensure that MOUs meet constitutional and statutory civil rights requirements.2

3. Recruit and hire effective SROs and school personnel. 

4. Keep your SROs and school personnel well trained. 

5. Continually evaluate SROs and school personnel, and recognize good performance. 

DISCLAIMER: This rubric is not an endorsement of any law or written agreement. These action steps 

and recommended activities are provided for the user’s convenience and do not necessarily reflect the 

positions or policies of ED or DOJ. Neither ED nor DOJ controls or guarantees the accuracy, 

relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any outside information. All school district and law 

enforcement officials and policymakers should also seek independent guidance to ensure that any 

proposed legislation or policy is consistent with all applicable Federal and State laws.

 

1 These entities include those representing judges, prosecutors, public defenders and civil legal aid partners, probation 

officers, and relevant social service agencies.

2 Including Federal, State, and local prohibitions on discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, language 

status, religion, sex, sexual orientation, and disability; on the use of excessive force; and on improper searches, seizures, or 

interrogations.
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SECURe Local Implementation Rubric

ACTION STEP

CHECKLIST TO 

START

Use the following checklists when 

implementing new school-law 

enforcement partnerships.

CHECKLIST TO 

IMPROVE

Use the following checklists when 

improving existing school-law 

enforcement partnerships.

1

Create sustainable 

partnerships and 

formalize MOUs 

among school 

districts, local law 

enforcement 

agencies, juvenile 

justice entities, and 

civil rights and 

community 

stakeholders. 

 Measure student, family, school 

staff, and community experience 

of school safety and law 

enforcement presence to gauge 

your starting place. 

o Consider available data on 

discipline incidents, ticketing,

arrests, and school perception.

o Use relevant data from 

mandated collections, 

including state and district 

accountability data as well as 

the US Department of 

Education’s Civil Rights Data 

Collection. 

 Find resources on best practices 

for school-law enforcement

partnerships. 

 Draft an MOU together with 

stakeholder groups to develop a 

sustainable and regularlyreviewed partnership:

o Collect and adapt exemplar 

MOUs from existing schoollaw enforcement partnerships 

from across the country to 

suit local needs.

o Make language applicable 

and accessible to all 

audiences (including students, 

families, school staff). 

o Include language that 

explicitly prohibits SROs 

from involvement in 

enforcing school codes of 

conduct or engaging school 

discipline, and clarify their 

role to ensure safety and 

security.

o Identify needs and local 

concerns in the MOU as

demonstrated by local data.

 Use data to assess the 

effectiveness of existing 

partnerships and MOUs. 

o Consider available

disaggregated data on 

discipline incidents, 

ticketing, arrests, and school 

perception, as well as 

number and percentage of 

sworn legal officers in 

schools. 

o Use relevant data from 

mandated collections, 

including state and district 

accountability data as well as 

the US Department of 

Education’s Civil Rights 

Data Collection.

 Establish a regular timeline to 

evaluate and revise MOUs to 

reflect changes in local needs 

and concerns: 

o Involve school 

administrators, educators, 

local law enforcement, 

students, parents and 

families, and other relevant 

stakeholders during MOU 

revision process.

o Share MOUs with colleagues 

in other communities for 

feedback and information on 

best practices.

o Share MOUs with State 

officials and local lawmakers 

to inform State policy related 

to SROs in schools. 

o Provide school 

administrators and SROs 

with up-to-date copies of 

MOU agreements and 

discuss implementation 

strategies within the context 
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of specific school 

environments. 

2

Ensure that MOUs 

meet constitutional 

and statutory civil 

rights 

requirements.3

 Incorporate Federal and State 

constitutional requirements, 

including legal requirements 

relating to searches, seizures, uses 

of force, and interrogations. 

 Incorporate the requirements of 

Federal, State, and local civil 

rights statutes, including those 

prohibiting race, color, national 

origin, language status, disability, 

religion, and sex discrimination. 

 Gather, organize, and present 

data4 on law enforcement 

practices (including searches, 

seizures, citations, ticketing, 

arrests, use of force, 

interrogations, court referrals, 

alleged student misconduct 

leading to law enforcement 

practices, etc.). 

 Disaggregate the data by race, 

ethnicity, age, sex, type of 

offense, English learner (EL) 

status, and disability status.

 Include a mechanism to receive 

complaints about discrimination 

and other input from parents and 

students, and to gather 

information about the 

complainants’ race, age, sex, EL 

status, and disability status.

 Establish a process for regularly 

collecting and analyzing data 

(including searches, seizures, 

citations, ticketing, arrests, use of 

force, interrogations, court 

referrals, alleged student 

misconduct leading to law 

enforcement practices, etc.). 

 Use this data to regularly 

evaluate and revise policies if 

information indicates that a 

school-based law enforcement 

program is being carried out in a 

manner that is inconsistent with 

Federal and State constitutions, 

civil rights laws, and applicable 

privacy laws. 

 Involve stakeholder groups to 

design and implement a plan of 

action to address constitutional, 

privacy, or civil rights-related 

concerns. 

3

Recruit and hire 

effective SROs 

and school 

personnel. 

 Draft and publish hiring 

guidelines for SROs with input 

from students, parents and 

families, and community 

stakeholders, potentially 

including the following: 

o Ability to work effectively 

with students, parents, 

teachers, and school 

administrators 

o An understanding of the 

importance of diversion 

 Establish a regular timeline to 

review and update SRO hiring 

guidelines. 

 Maintain an onboarding / 

training program for new SROs 

in which they are mentored by 

experienced SROs on topics 

including: 

o Constitutional and civil 

rights

o Childhood and adolescent 

development

 

3 Including Federal, State, and local prohibitions on discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, language 

status, religion, sex, sexual orientation, and disability; on the use of excessive force; and on improper searches, seizures, or 

interrogations.

4 Refer to U.S. Department of Education, FERPA Frequently Asked Questions: “Sharing information with School Law 

Enforcement Units and School Resource Officers.”
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programs and alternatives to 

arrest

o Respect for youth and 

families of all backgrounds 

and cultures

o An understanding of 

developmentally appropriate, 

trauma-informed practices for 

interacting with youth 

o Consideration of the 

applicant’s past discipline and 

legal history

o Strong interpersonal 

communication skills 

o Strong public speaking ability 

o Effective law-related teaching 

and mentoring skills 

o Minimum years of experience

o An interest in promoting and 

enriching the lives of youth 

o Knowledge of the specific 

needs and local concerns of 

the community 

 Include interviews by school 

staff, students, parents and 

families, community 

stakeholders, and youth 

development experts.

o Age-appropriate responses to 

student conduct

o Disability and special 

education issues 

o Conflict resolution and deescalation techniques

o Bias-free policing, including 

implicit bias and cultural

competence 

o Responses to trauma

o Restorative justice 

techniques

o Interacting with specific 

student groups such as those 

with disabilities or limited 

English proficiency or who

are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or 

transgender (LGBT).

 Regularly review performance 

using SRO-specific rating 

instruments to ensure a good fit 

between SROs and particular 

schools.

4

Keep your SROs 

and school 

personnel well

trained.

 Include language in the MOU on 

ongoing training needs and plans 

for both SROs and school staff, 

and incorporate joint training of 

SROs and school staff as 

appropriate. 

 Develop an ongoing training and 

refresh program that covers the 

topics listed in the onboarding 

training list in step #3.

o Other topics can include: use 

of force that reflects 

differences in strength and 

physical vulnerabilities of 

youth, limited appropriate use 

of handcuffs in a school 

setting, consequences of 

student involvement in the 

criminal and juvenile justice 

system, and all available 

alternatives to arrest.

 Train school personnel not to call 

upon SROs to address non-violent 

or non-threatening behavior by 

 Establish a schedule to regularly 

review current data with SROs 

and school staff, including 

analysis on suspensions, 

expulsions, and arrests, which 

may indicate there are civil 

rights concerns where 

disproportionality exists 

(particularly for students of color 

and students with disabilities).

 Establish a schedule to regularly 

solicit the input of SROs and 

school staff on effective training 

for preventing unnecessary 

arrests for minor, non-crisis 

disciplinary incidents.

 Establish a schedule to regularly 

incorporate SRO and educator 

input on local best practices into 

SRO training manuals and staff 

handbooks on professional 

practice.

 Involve SROs in school life 

activities designed to improve 
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using less punitive methods such 

as restorative justice or using the

student code of conduct. 

 Train SROs to exercise discretion 

to minimize arrests for minor 

misbehaviors and use all available 

diversion programs and other 

alternatives to arrest.

 Solicit SRO input in the 

development of training materials 

to prevent unnecessary arrests of 

students involved in minor 

school-based offenses.

trust and relationship building 

between SROs, students, 

families, and staff.

 Incorporate real-life simulations 

in SRO and staff training to 

provide opportunities for 

practice in the effective deescalation of non-crisis 

disciplinary incidents to prevent 

unnecessary arrests in schools.

5

Continually 

evaluate SROs and 

school personnel, 

and recognize 

good performance.

 Design a comprehensive 

performance evaluation and 

recognition system (including a 

regular performance schedule that 

is appropriate and made clear 

throughout the hiring process and 

onboarding) that maps to 

trainings provided and 

capabilities you expect staff to 

demonstrate, and is conducted by 

experienced and qualified 

professionals. 

 Evaluate ability to de-escalate 

and use alternative disciplinary 

actions to prevent citations, 

ticketing, and arrests.

 Create a mechanism to collect 

feedback from students, families, 

and peers, and other school staff 

for SRO and school staff 

evaluations. 

 Incorporate research on positive 

youth development and safe and 

supportive learning 

environments in all evaluation 

and support systems.