School Safety Threats Persist, Funding Decreasing: NASRO 2003 National School-Based Law Enforcement Survey

• NCJ Number: 201735
• Author(s): Kenneth S. Trump MPA
• Date Published: August 2003
• Length: 22 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: National Assoc of School Resource Officers (NASRO)
• Sale Source: National Assoc of School Resource Officers (NASRO)
• Publication Format: Document (Online)
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Downloaded August 22, 2003

Annotation

This document highlights survey findings from the 2003 National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO) 3rd National Annual Survey of School-Based Police Officers.

Abstract

The 20-question survey was administered to attendees of the 13th Annual NASRO Conference held in Orlando, FL, on June 29-July 4, 2003. A total of 728 surveys were tallied, representing a return rate of approximately 66 percent. A significant finding from the survey is that school safety threats continue to persist from both within, and outside of, the Nation’s schools. School-based police officers reported that significant gaps continue to exist in their schools’ emergency preparedness planning, and training for terrorism and other crisis situations. Crimes occurring on school campuses nationwide are under-reported to law enforcement. The current Federal No Child Left Behind Act requirement for States to define “persistently dangerous” schools will lead to further under-reporting of school crime. The vast majority of respondents also believe that Congress should enact a Federal mandatory K-12 school crime reporting law. A significant percentage of School Resource Officers reported budget cuts for school safety funding in their local school districts, inadequacies in Federal school safety funding, and the need for an “Education Homeland Security Act” to fund school terrorism training, improve security and crisis planning, and support School Resource Officer programs. It appears that public policy and funding trends are headed in the opposite direction of what front-line school safety officials are saying is needed. It is recommended that Federal, State, and local education and public safety agencies include schools in meaningful terrorism and homeland security planning, and in related resource allocations. NASRO should support legislative and programmatic initiatives geared toward assisting schools in collaborating more closely with SROs and other public safety agencies in improving school security policies and procedures. Funds should be used for greater training opportunities for school-based police officers as first responders to terrorist attacks. An awareness campaign on the findings and issues in this survey should be initiated. 2 appendices