On the Association Between SROs, Private Security Guards, Use-of-Force Capabilities, and Violent Crime in Schools

Abstract

Although school crime and the use of security measures to combat school crime has been the focus of a number of prior empirical studies, there is substantially less information known about the relationship between school resource officers (SROs) and private security guards in schools and school crime. Using data from the 2006 School Survey on Crime and Safety, this study investigates the relationships among school characteristics and school crime with a particular focus on their differential effects across schools that utilize varying types of security personnel (e.g., no security, SROs only, or private security guards only) and use-of-force capabilities (e.g., oleoresin-capsicum spray/pepper spray, Tasers, and firearms). Results from a series of negative binomial regression models indicate that there is a considerable degree of variability in the effect of school characteristics on school crime across schools that utilize SROs only versus private security guards only. Additional results suggest that mid-level force capabilities are positively associated with school crime. Study limitations and implications are also discussed.

School Violence: The Role of Parental and Community Involvement

“…The SSOCS, a nationally representative sample of U.S. public schools, is considered one of the richest datasets for studies of school violence. Data from the SSOCS have been used in many published studies throughout the last decade (Chen, 2008;Granberg-Rademacker et al, 2007;Jennings et al, 2011;Kupchik & Ward, 2014;Maskaly, Donner, Lanterman, & Jennings, 2011;O'Neill & McGloin, 2007;Patton, 2011;Phillips et al, 2014). School administrators from elementary, middle, and high schools complete the survey.…”

“…These security variables have also been used in other studies of violence utilizing this database (GranbergRademacker et al, 2007;O'Neill & McGloin, 2007;Phillips et al, 2014). The SRO variable measures whether the school has a school resource officer employed at the school Maskaly et al, 2011).…”

“…Negative binomial regression was selected as the statistical approach because initial diagnostic tests showed overdispersion within the data (Hilbe, 2011). Other studies using data from the SSOCS have constructed similar negative binomial regression models in weighted form in the model to better represent data at a national level Maskaly et al, 2011;O'Neill & McGloin, 2007). Descriptive statistics including the means, standard deviations, and ranges of the variables used in this study for both samples are presented in Tables 1 and 2.…”

“…Rural is coded as the dummy variable for analysis. Many of these control variables are applied in other similar studies assessing school violence (Chen, 2008;Jennings et al, 2011;Kupchik & Ward, 2014;Maskaly et al, 2011;O'Neill & McGloin, 2007).…”

The Effects of School Police Officers on Victimization, Delinquency, and Fear of Crime: Focusing on Korean Youth

“…However, evidence on the effectiveness of these programs has been inconsistent. Some studies have suggested that SRO programs reduce violence in schools (Carroll, Ben-Zadok, & McCue, 2010;Johnson, 1999;Maskaly, Donner, Lanterman, & Jennings, 2011). For instance, Johnson (1999) analyzed data from nine high schools and eighteen middle schools, revealing that overall school suspensions gradually decreased in both middle and high schools with the placement of police officers.…”