On Ending Police Presence From Our Schools

By Tara Chandran/3L student at Osgoode Hall Law School/for CUREA/CURET

“It is important for us to remember that the police are not bastions of safety for many members of our community.” — Lyra Evans, Trustee for Rideau-Vanier/Capital, supporting SRO removal.

Black Lives Matter protests and societal analysis of the police’s relationship with BIPOC persons has led to the scrutiny of programs allowing armed police officers in primary and secondary schools and whether they are effective for the children attending these schools. Armed police officers have been operating through the School Resource Officer Program (SRO) across Ontario, in Peel, Toronto, Ottawa, Cornwall, Hamilton and several other cities across Canada for almost 20 years. This program was created to build healthy relationships between the police and the school communities and to promote a quick response to ensure protection of students.

Following the death of Jordan Manners in 2008, a young black man in high school, the SRO program was put in place to “protect” students from danger and provide an avenue for assistance with behaviour and safety issues at the schools. While this created lower stress levels for some students, including less bullying and lowering fear of being physically harmed, the negative impacts of police presence have been much more significant.

Black Lives Matter groups and community activists have been protesting the police programs in schools since their inception, arguing that while “safety” has been promoted, the programs are used instead to criminalize and target BIPOC students. Through an analysis of the program, BIPOC, disabled and gender-queer students are disproportionately suspended and expelled, and racialized students face continued harm and over-policing due to the presence of officers.

With the growing movement to bring actual attention to marginalized voices, school boards have been re-assessing the program and paying special attention to its effect on BIPOC and racialized students. In recent polls, it was found that 10% of students, accounting for about 2000 students, strongly disagree with the program and feel intimidated and uncomfortable, leading to school boards such as Ottawa and Peel to re-assess and look to close their programs. Especially when there was no concrete support for whether the programs have resulted in safer campuses and fewer arrests, it was clear listening to the students who were in unsafe and uncomfortable positions was the right path. It is unfair to weigh minority and majority voices the same, when we need to be centering the voices of those negatively impacted to truly understand what is most effective and helpful.

While the sentiment of providing practical resources to assist students in navigating school through police officers is positive, other resources, such as mental health resources and social workers, are more fit for this role. Police are not a beacon of safety in our communities for all and to promote equity, all SRO programs need to seriously evaluate their purpose and the harm they cause to BIPOC and marginalized students.