ACLU report critical overall on school resource officers but cites Spokane Public Schools for good policing policy

Police in Washington schools are expensive, largely unregulated and widespread, according to a report published by the ACLU earlier this week.

And although Spokane Public Schools’ police force is better regulated than most, it’s still costly.

During the 2014-15 school year, Spokane Public Schools paid $1 million in salary and benefits to its resource officers, more than any other district in the state, according to the report.

“Ultimately, we do think the resources that are spent on officers, and they can be considerable, could be used in better ways,” said Vanessa Hernandez, the report’s author and the youth policy director for the ACLU of Washington.

Eighty-four of Washington’s 100 largest school districts have officers in school daily, according to the report. On average, those officers cost the school between $62,000 and $125,000 per year. What’s more, the report found most officers have little formal training working with students, and the district, parents and school board have little or no oversight.

The report argues that the money spent on school policing would be better used for other school programs and services.

“Ultimately, yes, the ACLU’s position is that there should not be police officers in school,” Hernandez said.

The lack of oversight, combined with the lack of training, means school police often arrest students for relatively minor infractions, according to the report.

In one incident documented in the report, a black 13-year-old student was arrested and charged with “disturbing school” – a crime under state law – after the boy refused to leave a classroom. According to the ACLU, the charge has been leveled at a juvenile at least 800 times in the last 20 years.

While most districts contract with local police to place officers in schools, Spokane has its own limited-commission police force designated to school security. Spokane resource officers receive a limited commission from the Spokane Police Department and report directly to school administrators, in addition to Mark Sterk, the director of safety, risk management and transportation and the former county sheriff.

Spokane Public Schools is mentioned several times throughout the report, mostly as an example of good policing policy.

In March, Spokane Public Schools adopted a use of force policy that was heralded by administrators and board directors as unique in Washington.

Hernandez agrees with that assessment, although she said there is still work to be done.

“Spokane is the only district that I’m aware of in the state that has a board-adopted, relatively comprehensive policy on school policing,” she said.

Additionally, Spokane Public Schools is the only district in the state with a public complaint process. According to the policy, parents and students have 10 business days to file a complaint against a campus resource officer.

Nikki Lockwood, the parent of an autistic child in Spokane Public Schools and a member of the Every Student Counts Alliance, said that reading the report and seeing what was happening statewide made her appreciate the work being done in Spokane.

“I’m glad we have the policies in place that we do,” she said. “However, there is a lot of work to be done.”

In particular, Lockwood is concerned about the resources special needs students receive and how school resource officers interact with special needs students.

“I think as a school district we need to have a hard look at where to put the resources to get at the root of the issues of discipline,” she said.

Sterk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Over the past two years the district has drastically reduced arrests following policy changes. As of Feb. 28 district officers had arrested 58 students, compared to 467 at the same time last year.

While school police may seem like a necessity, the ACLU report notes that it’s a relatively new phenomenon. In the past 20 years the number of officers stationed in schools nationwide grew from zero to 17,000. That growth can be attributed to an increase in funding for the federal COPS office and increased fear of school violence, according to the report.

Hernandez believes Washington schools should handle criminal activity the same way any other organization does: calling local police only when it’s necessary.

“They really are policing the children on a daily basis,” she said.