U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Community Oriented Policing Services

 Fact Sheet cops.usdoj.gov

School Resource Officer Memorandum of 

Understanding

School Resource Officer (SRO) programs can play an important role in maintaining and increasing safety in schools and 

neighboring communities. In order to effectively implement such programs, law enforcement agencies and schools should 

develop a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to clearly document the roles, responsibilities, and expectations of the 

individuals and partners involved including SROs, school officials, law enforcement, education departments, students, and 

parents. At a minimum, a successful MOU documents the program’s purpose, partner roles and responsibilities, requirements 

for information sharing, and supervision of the SRO.

Developing a memorandum of understanding

An MOU, also referred to as an interagency agreement or 

Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), is an instrument used 

to build mutual respect and trust between partners while 

delineating specific roles and responsibilities of the partnering agencies. Every jurisdiction with a school and law 

enforcement partnership should have an MOU that clearly 

defines the roles and responsibilities of the individual partners involved, including school districts, boards or departments of education, school administration officials, law 

enforcement agencies (including SROs), students, families, 

and social service agencies. As a policy instrument, all parties 

should sign and abide by the MOU, and it should be considered a living document that operates within the context 

created by applicable federal and state laws—including, but 

not limited to, federal civil rights laws and privacy laws.

For all COPS Hiring Program (CHP) and Tribal Resources 

Grant Program – Hire SRO awards, a signed MOU must 

be submitted to the COPS Office within 90 days of the 

date shown on the award congratulatory letter. Implementation of the award without submission and acceptance of the 

required MOU may result in expenditures not being reimbursed by the COPS Office and/or award deobligation.

Developing your school-based partnership

School and law enforcement partnerships are also built 

on a foundation of shared goals and objectives, which are 

approached in a constructive and positive manner and 

achieved through open communication. When schools, 

communities, and law enforcement agencies work together 

to creatively address problems, positive outcomes can be 

achieved, including

an increased ability of law enforcement agencies, schools, 

and community groups to gather and analyze useful and 

timely information about crime and fear of crime in 

schools in accordance with applicable privacy laws;

an increased ability of law enforcement agencies, schools, 

and community groups to work together in developing 

innovative, systemic, long-term approaches to reducing 

and preventing different kinds of crime in and around 

their schools and preventing unnecessary law enforcement 

November 2021

Every jurisdiction with a school and law 

enforcement partnership should have an MOU 

that clearly defines the roles and responsibilities 

of the individual partners involved.
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involvement in noncriminal student misbehavior. Measurable outcomes may be determined by implementing strategies focused on targeted crimes, thereby improving the 

quality of life for those affected (students, teachers, school 

personnel, and parents), promoting a safer environment 

conducive to learning, and decreasing the fear of crime 

and violence among students, school employees, and the 

surrounding community;

an increased understanding of how to effectively interact 

with youth through coordinated training on topics such 

as basic childhood and adolescent development and age 

appropriate responses, disability and special education 

issues, conflict resolution and de-escalation techniques, 

bias-free policing including implicit bias and cultural 

competence, restorative justice techniques, and working 

with specific student groups such as students with disabilities, limited English proficiency, and students that identify 

as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT);

an increased understanding of an SRO’s roles and responsibilities, including an understanding that school code 

of conduct violations and routine discipline of students 

remains the responsibility of school administrators and 

that law enforcement actions (such as arrest, citations, 

ticketing, or court referrals) are only to be used as a last 

resort for incidents that involve criminal behavior or when 

it becomes necessary to protect the safety of students, 

faculty, and staff from the threat of immediate harm;

an increased ability through coordinated training for 

schools and law enforcement agencies to properly train 

and respond to school safety threats;

an increased ability to plan for and respond appropriately 

to emergencies.

NOTE: The U.S. Departments of Education, Health and 

Human Services, Homeland Security, and Justice released 

guidance for schools on emergency planning. See Guide for 

Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans

(Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, 2013), 

https://rems.ed.gov/docs/Guide_for_Developing_HQ_

School_EOPs.pdf. See also https://www.schoolsafety.gov/

protect-and-mitigate/emergency-planning for additional 

updated school emergency plan guidance.

MOU guidance

The following information must be included within an 

MOU. The COPS Office strongly encourages law enforcement agencies to work collaboratively with school partners 

to formulate additional information that will help successfully implement the overall school safety plans.

Under COPS Office SRO awards, agencies must have a 

defined SRO deployment policy developed with the school 

partnership that is focused on youth-related duties at K–12 

schools. Individual award programs may have additional 

terms and conditions related to SRO duty assignments. The 

time commitment of the SROs must be above and beyond 

the amount of time that the agency devoted to the schools 

before receiving the award. There must be an increase in 

the level of community policing activities performed in and 

around primary or secondary schools in the agency’s jurisdiction as a result of the award.

A. Purpose of the MOU

The statement of purpose should describe the agencies that 

are entering into the partnership, the purpose of the partnership, and the effective date of the agreement. This statement 

may already exist within your ongoing partnership, or it may 

need to be developed jointly to assist in defining the primary 

purpose of your agreement. The effective date of the agreement must cover the term of the award or contain language 

regarding the annual renewal of the agreement through the 

term of the award.

B. Description of partner roles 

and responsibilities

This description must include the roles and responsibilities 

of the school, the school district, and the law enforcement 

agency, and each partner should be specifically listed within 

the document. It must clearly indicate that SROs will not 

be responsible for requests to resolve routine discipline 

problems involving students. The administration of student discipline, including student code of conduct violations and student misbehavior, is the responsibility of 

school administrators unless the violation or misbehavior 

involves criminal conduct.
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The MOU must include the roles and responsibilities of the 

school partner. These roles may include providing a secure 

work space for SROs to conduct interviews and maintain 

confidential records; establishing standing meetings; and 

working with school administrators in identifying problems 

and evaluating progress under the MOU, including data 

collection and evaluation. The school administrator should 

ensure that staff cooperates with police investigations and 

any subsequent actions related to crime or criminal activity 

on campus.

The law enforcement partner is responsible for the selection of officer(s) assigned to the school, and these officer(s) 

should adhere to the principles of community policing. This 

section of the MOU must define the roles and responsibilities of the SRO and the assigned hours of SRO duty, including arrival and departure times and specifying if after-hour 

duties may be performed and if time spent in court, attending interagency meetings, and investigating school-related 

crimes are within the scope of SRO duties.

The MOU should include examples of the activities that 

the SRO will engage in, such as

handling requests for calls for service in and around schools;

conducting comprehensive safety and security assessments;

developing emergency management and incident response systems based on the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and the four phases of emergency 

management: mitigation/prevention, preparedness, 

response, and recovery;

developing and implementing safety plans or strategies;

integrating appropriate security equipment/technology solutions, including incorporating crime prevention 

through environmental design (CPTED) as appropriate 

to enhance school safety;

responding to unauthorized persons on school property;

serving as liaisons between the school and other police 

agencies, investigative units, or juvenile justice authorities 

when necessary and consistent with applicable civil rights 

laws and privacy laws;

serving as a member of a multidisciplinary school team 

to refer students to professional services within both the 

school (guidance counselors or social workers) and the 

community (youth and family service organizations);

building relationships with juvenile justice counselors 

to help connect youth with needed services;

developing and expanding crime prevention efforts 

for students;

developing and expanding community justice initiatives 

for students.

C. Information sharing

This section must address the type of and the extent to 

which information will be shared between the law enforcement agency and school or school district partners. For 

example, it should define the type of information the school 

is permitted or willing to share with law enforcement, as 

well as information flow from law enforcement to school 

partner(s). When entering into an MOU, agencies should 

consider all federal or state laws that govern the collection, 

use, and dissemination of student records.

Federal privacy laws, including the Family Educational 

Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), 

and civil rights and other laws must be considered when 

developing plans for information sharing that involves 

personally identifiable information from student education records. For more information on FERPA, see the U.S. 

Department of Education’s School Resource Officers, School 

Law Enforcement Units, and the Family Educational Rights 

and Privacy Act (FERPA) at https://studentprivacy.ed.gov/

resources/school-resource-officers-school-law-enforcementunits-and-ferpa; for more information on HIPAA, see the 

U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s FERPA 

and HIPAA page at https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/faq/ferpa-and-hipaa/index.html; and for an overview 

of FERPA issues relevant to emergency planning and SRO 

programs, please see the “Closer Look” section of the Guide 

for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations 

Plans at https://rems.ed.gov/docs/Guide_for_Developing_

HQ_School_EOPs.pdf.
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D. Supervision responsibility and 

chain of command for the SRO

This section must clearly establish a definitive chain of 

command for the SRO, including the individual(s) with 

the responsibility for the supervision of the SRO. With rare 

exceptions, this responsibility lies with the law enforcement 

executive or his or her law enforcement designee.

E. Signatures

The MOU must be signed and dated by both the highest ranking law enforcement executive (i.e., police chief 

or sheriff ) and the school official(s) who will have general 

educational oversight and decision-making authority (i.e., 

board of education chairperson, superintendent, or school 

principal). The MOU should be developed with participation from school administrators and officers assigned to the 

school(s) so that staff members who are impacted by the 

agreement clearly understand their roles and responsibilities. Successful MOUs are often developed by teams that 

include students, families, social service agencies, and other 

community members committed to keeping schools safe, 

in addition to school and law enforcement members. The 

MOU should be publicly available to members of the school 

community.

Supplemental Information 

In addition to the required information set forth in the 

MOU guidance, training requirements and performance 

monitoring should be addressed in the MOU. The COPS 

Office recommends including a section that describes 

training requirements prior to placing SROs in educational 

settings, as well as specific in-service training requirements 

throughout their deployment in the schools. The COPS 

Office also recommends a section that establishes a process 

to closely monitor the SRO program, including comprehensive disaggregated data collection on school-based arrests, 

citations, searches, and referrals to court or juvenile justice 

programs consistent with applicable federal, state, and local 

privacy laws. 

Annual Review 

The MOU should be reviewed on an annual basis by the 

school district and law enforcement agency to identify any 

necessary updates based on new policy or best practices. A 

copy of the MOU should also be provided to SROs for their 

review and suggested updates.

Contact the COPS Office

For more information about COPS Office 

programs and resources, please call the COPS 

Office Response Center at 800-421-6770 or visit 

the COPS Office website at https://cops.usdoj.gov.

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Resources

The Beat: Police in Schools 

Mo Canady, Executive Director of the National 

Association of School Resource Officers, discusses 

the role of police in schools.

https://cops.usdoj.gov/ html/podcasts/the_beat/02-

2013/TheBeat-022013_Mo_ Canady.mp3 

Assigning Police Officers to Schools

Guide that summarizes the typical duties of SROs 

and synthesizes the research pertaining to their 

effectiveness. 

https://cops.usdoj.gov/RIC/ric.php?page=detail&id=

COPS-P182
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School Resource Officer Memorandum of Understanding

Supporting Safe Schools 

SRO and school-based policing resources.

https://cops.usdoj.gov/supportingsafeschools

National Center on Safe Supportive Learning 

Environments 2013 Sample MOUs and Webinar 

Experts describe the roles and responsibilities of 

SROs in light of the latest research. 

https://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/events/

webinar/intersection-school-safety-and-supportivediscipline-navigating-roles-and

School Resource Officers: Averted School Violence 

Special Report 

Case studies and lessons learned from averted 

school violence incidents. 

https://cops.usdoj.gov/RIC/ric.php? 

page=detail&id=COPS-W0903 

Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools

U.S. Department of Education resources aimed 

at helping education agencies, along with their 

community partners, manage safety, security, and 

emergency management programs.

https://rems.ed.gov/

An Introduction to SRO Programs 

An interactive online course that provides an 

overview of the benefits, challenges, and best 

practices of SRO programs in our nation's schools. 

https://copstrainingportal.org/project/anintroduction-to-sro-programs/

Ten Essential Actions to Improve School Safety 

The COPS Office identified 10 essential actions 

that can be taken by schools, school districts, and 

law enforcement agencies to help prevent critical 

incidents involving the loss of life or injuries in 

our nation's schools and to respond rapidly and 

effectively when incidents do occur. 

https://cops.usdoj.gov/RIC/ric.

php?page=detail&id=COPS-W0891

Beyond the Badge: Profile of a School Resource 

Officer 

Video following Ferguson (Missouri) St. Louis 

County SRO Ronald Cockrell in his assigned school; 

includes discussion guides. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHDR2QOKaLM

Resources cont'd from page 4

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