DOI: 10.3886/icpsr37685.v1
title: An Investigation of School Resource and Safety Programs Policy and Practice in Virginia, 2016-2019
title: Version 1

description: This study seeks to inform about the effectiveness and impact of school safety programs in the state of Virginia. In many Virginia schools, ensuring school safety often involves the use of School Resource Officers (SRO) and School Security Officers (SSO), or some combination of SROs and SSOs. This study investigated the current state of SRO and SSO programs in Virginia to illuminate how SRO and SSO programs are operating and uncover best practices associated with program development, implementation, and evaluation. Specifically, the research questions were: RQ1: How are SROs and SSOs trained to operate in K-12 public schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia? RQ2:What are the criteria that are being used to select SROs and SSOs to operate in schools? RQ3: How are the activities of SROs and SSOs that do not result in an arrest being documented? RQ4: How are SROs and SSOs operating in schools supervised by their own department and/or by the school(s) in which they operate? RQ5: What criteria are used to assess SRO and SSO performance? RQ6: To what extent are SROs and SSOs involved addressing school disciplinary matters that do not rise to the level of criminal activity? RQ7: Are there differences when comparing between school districts that have MOUs with local law enforcement, and school districts that do not have formal arrangements with local law enforcement?
description: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the SRO programs and for the assigned officers to remain aware of current trends and strategies to address any issues of concern.
description: A combination of existing and new data was utilized to answer the research questions outlined above. Quantitative data collected from two existing datasets (School Safety Survey and Annual Report for Discipline, Crime and Violence) were analyzed alongside new data collected from 533 returned surveys of SROs, SSOs, SRO Supervisors, SSO Supervisors, and SRO School-Based Liaisons.
description: The study includes five datasets and a total of 408 variables. Each of the five data files asks the respondent to describe their educational background and training experiences for their position, how they spend their time on the job, about child abuse and neglect in school, how they deal with children with special needs, who they interact with, training topics they feel they should be getting, and how they feel about their job. The datasets also included additional demographic variables such as age, gender, ethnicity, and race of the participants. Please refer to the accompanying User Guide for further information.
description: Not applicable
description: Response Rates: Investigators invited 700 SROs, 136 SRO Law Enforcement Supervisors, and 93 SRO School-Based Liaisons to partake in the online surveys. Invitations were also sent to 600 SSOs and 57 SSO Supervisors. Eventually, 202 SROs (28.9%), 54 SRO Supervisors (39.7%), 40 SRO Liaisons (43.0%), and 108 SSOs (18.0%) completed the surveys. Unfortunately, only 8 SSO Supervisors (14.0%) participated in the survey. In each file additional participants started the survey but did not complete it. Please refer to the variable <strong>PROGRESS</strong> in each file to see who started and who completed the survey.
description: Presence of Common Scales: Respondents were asked several questions using a 5-point agree / disagree scale.
description: Researchers constructed and administered surveys to reach five target groups: SROs, SSOs, SRO Supervisors, SSO Supervisors, and SRO School-based Liaisons. The Safety/Security Personnel Survey collected data directly from SROs and SSOs employed in the Commonwealth. The Supervisors of Safety/Security Personnel Survey collected data directly from the school administrators and law enforcement agents who hire, supervise, and evaluate SROs and SSOs. Each potential participant received an email invitation directly from Qualtrics. Non-responders received two reminders thereafter.
description: Datasets: DS0: Study-Level Files DS1: School Resource Officers (SROs) DS2: SRO Law Enforcement Supervisors DS3: SRO School-Based Liaisons DS4: School Safety Officers (SSO) DS5: SSO Supervisors
description: School Resource Officers, School Security Officers, School Leaders, Law Enforcement personnel, in Virginia. Smallest Geographic Unit: School district
description: face-to-face interview; telephone audio computer-assisted self interview (TACASI); web-based surveyQualitative data were collected but are not included at this time.