ABSTRACT
Introduction The law enforcement profession took a new turn at the close of the twentieth century
that has continued into the new millennium. Police officers are now commonly
deployed in public schools as part of school resource officer (SRO) programs. The
National Association of School Resource Officers (as cited in Theriot, 2009) reports that
this assignment became the fastest-growing type of law enforcement work during the
1990s and 2000s. This increase is largely attributable to a widespread belief that schools
were becoming more violent. However, evidence from the University of Virginia’s Youth
Violence Project (2007) and the Department of Justice (Robers, Zhang & Truman, 2012)
demonstrates that serious violent incidents have decreased since the mid-to early
1990s, with some occasional yearly fluctuations. Yet, as violent incidents at schools
declined, high-profile shootings, such as the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in
Littleton, Colorado, which left 13 students and staff dead and 24 wounded, led to the
popular belief that school crime rates were growing. As a result, more schools have
deployed school resource officer programs. These programs are not in place solely to
prevent critical incidents. They also allow law enforcement officers to be involved with
children during the impressionable years when they are involved with academics and
the school community.
