City of OKC

Recommendation No. 26:

OKCPD should update current contracts with the School District to minimize the role of enforcement by School Resource Officers.

OKCPD should update their current contracts with the School District to minimize the role of enforcement by School Resource Officers (“SROs”) and to provide overall clarity.

Project Status: 90% Implemented

On August 1, 2023, Oklahoma City Council approved the School Resource Officer (SRO) contract with Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS) for the 2023-24 school year. Through a collaborative effort, ‘Engagement Guidelines’ were prepared in order to provide clarity in all parties responsibilities.

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Project Details from Consultant Report

Discussions about the role of SROs highlighted the divergent perspectives between the department and the community. Community members told 21CP about vigorous enforcement, often leading to citations to the families that could least afford them. Some reported that officers used force to enforce school disciplinary issues up to and including the use of pepper spray. One community member claimed that only two SROs are CIT trained and described an interaction in which an officer was “very quick to demonize the kids with no interest in building relationship.”

In contrast, the police department reported the success of the YES program, which started in 2018 and “provide[s] families immediate resources such as food, clothing, and other basic living needs.” The program came into being when officers realized many kids were missing school because of lice. They partnered with a local non-profit who funded lice kits to be handed out. Officers stressed that the key factor in truancy was poverty – “we are penalizing people for being poor” – and said their focus was now on helping kids sleeping on the floor, kids without adequate or clean clothing, and kids who were food insecure. Those officers that spoke with us said they just want to help children overcome barriers and get back into school, which has developed into the focus of YES. OKCPD also reported significant drops in truancy rates as a result of the shift to the YES program.

In an attempt to reconcile these perspectives, 21CP requested information on truancy enforcement and activity of SROs. The data for truancy citations dropped dramatically in 2018 and were almost non-existent in 2019-the present. The department points to the success of the YES program and the change in focus, but such effects are somewhat hard to separate from the impact of COVID-19 during the same time period. However, the steady decrease in truancy citations between 2016 and the present does suggest decreased reliance on citations for truancy.

However, the activities of SROs do appear to be enforcement-based and it is clear that many arrests are made by SROs in any given year. The decreases in 2020-present are presumably attributable to COVID-19 as there was no other offered explanation.

Last, the SRO use of force also declined from 2018 to the present, and particularly with use of OC spray (pepper spray). Without conducting an in-depth case review, we cannot say whether these uses of force were reasonable, necessary, or proportional, but use of pepper spray was more frequent than we would expect for SROs based on our experience. Moreover, best practices suggests that a focused review of SRO uses of force should be conducted in every case. OKCPD should ensure that the Screening Committee reviews of SRO use of force are informed by the school context and that SRO supervisors are included in that process.

As such, 21CP received conflicting reports about the role of SROs, with some supporting expansion of the program and some demanding its elimination. 21CP cannot resolve that issue for OKC without significantly more information and, in particular, the ability observe SROs in the field to see how they interact with the students. That being said, OKC should revisit the reasons for SROs with the School District, clarify the specific role for SROs, and memorialize expectations in the contract or a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) similar to the Model SRO MOU prepared by Case Western University in OH.

The current contract states “the School District is desirous of acquiring uniformed Oklahoma City Police Officers to perform security and law enforcement duties upon school properties.” The scope of “General School Security Services” includes:

The City will provide officers at designated high school and middle school sites for a total of eighteen (18) officers, to work with staff and students; to prevent improper conduct and trespassing; and, when appropriate, to make arrests and take into custody persons guilty of violating City ordinances or State laws, all in accordance with the Standard Operating Procedures, Police Community Relations Unit, School Resources Program, as set forth in Attachment A(incorporated herein).

The contract primarily mandates enforcement and it does not address the working relationship between SROs and school administrators or

The City and the School District should restructure their contract or develop an MOU, in collaboration with students, parents, and other community stakeholders, to include:

• Clarity of SRO program goals
• Role of law enforcement in schools – e.g., education, procedural justice, and safety
• Selection process for SROs in collaboration with school administrators
• Selection criteria for SROs including educational requirements, experience and interest in working with youth
• Training for SROs in crisis response, juvenile justice, child and adolescent development and psychology
• Prohibition on enforcing school disciplinary issues
• Reporting and data requirements
• Specific policies on how to conduct enforcement activities with students

Additionally, as the City develops an Alternative Response model generally, it should consider whether the SRO program would benefit from those same resources.