We examined the effects of an increase in school resource officer (SRO) staffing on schools in a sample of 33 public schools that enhanced SRO staffing through funding from the Department of Justice's Community Oriented Policing Services Hiring Program and a matched sample of 72 schools that did not increase SRO staffing at the same time. In longitudinal analyses of monthly school-level administrative data, we compared the treatment and comparison schools on disciplinary offenses and actions. We found that increased SROs increased the number of drug-and weapon-related offenses and exclusionary disciplinary actions for treatment schools relative to comparison schools. These negative effects were more frequently found for students without special needs. Policy Implications: The study findings suggest that increasing SROs does not improve school safety and that by increasing exclusionary responses to school discipline incidents it increases the criminalization of school discipline. We recommend that educational decision-makers seeking to enhance school safety consider the many alternatives to programs that require regular police presence in schools.

We examined whether effects of an increase in school resource officer (SRO) staffing on school crime and exclusionary disciplinary responses to school crime varied by student race and ethnicity. Using monthly school level administrative data, we compared change in outcomes for 33 schools that enhanced SRO staffing and a matched sample of 72 schools that did not increase SRO staffing at the same time. We found that increases in offenses and exclusionary reactions due to increased SRO presence were most evident for Black and Hispanic as opposed to White students. Educational decision-makers should carefully weigh the benefits of placing SROs in schools against the knowledge that this practice differentially increases recorded school crime and exclusion from school for students of color.

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