SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICERS The School Resource officer program provides the use of trained full-time Police Officers who will work within the educational system. The objectives of the School Recourse Officer Program is to promote and assist schools in providing a safe learning environment which will also improve relationships between law enforcement and the youth of today. The program attempts to promote a better understanding of the Law Enforcement Officers' role in society while educating students, parents, school personnel, and the community on important issues such as gangs, violent crime, drugs, and other related topics. The program also provides a positive role model in the educational system. The Primary focus of this program is
(Model Policy and Procedures)
The School Resource officer either wears uniform, casual clothes, or both. Sixty percent of the officers always wear their uniforms while working in their schools, six percent always wear casual clothes, and thirty four percent wear either uniforms or casual clothes. An important part of an officer's uniform is his or her gun, and ninety seven percent carry their guns while working at their schools.
Eighty-nine percent of officers do not attend roll call at their departments when they begin their shifts but instead begin their days at their schools. Eighty-eight percent have offices in their schools. Twenty-five percent of officers work forty hours per week in their schools; another nineteen percent work fifty hours per week; and the remaining officers indicated they worked anywhere from five hours per week to seventy hours per week in their schools. (Model Policy and Procedures)
The training of School Resource Officers in states such as Florida and North Carolina focuses on three roles these officers ideally fulfill while working in schools. These roles are those of law enforcement officer, law related counselor, and law related education teacher. Attendees of a School Recourse Officer conference were asked what percentage of time they spend one each of these roles. Responding officers indicated that they spend approximately fifty percent of their time performing their law enforcement role, thirty percent of their time