Research shows that schools with SROs can actually have higher rates of behavioral incidents and more student arrests and disciplinary cases. Supporters for removing police from schools point to a growing body of research that suggests SROs do little to reduce on-campus violence, and their presence can take a significant toll on students.

Others - including New York, Chicago and Los Angeles - have either reduced the budgets for SROs or moved to redefine their roles in schools. In the 12 months following Floyd’s death, at least 33 school districts got rid of school police officers. There has been strong opposition to police in schools for years, but the movement to remove them has gained significant momentum in the wake of racial justice protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in May 2020. schools, including 72 percent of high schools. By 2018, SROs were present in at least 58 percent of U.S. But a series of deadly mass shootings, starting with the Columbine massacre in 1999, and a broad “tough on crime” approach to policing have led more administrators to rely on armed law enforcement officers. In 1975, only 1 percent of schools reported having officers on site. Over the past few decades, school police officers - typically known as school resource officers (SROs) or school safety officers - have become an increasingly common presence on America’s elementary and high school campuses. Rodriguez’s shooting has brought national attention to the ongoing debate over whether police officers belong in schools. As Rodriguez and two others attempted to leave the scene, the officer fired at least two shots into the back of the car they were riding in, video of the incident shows. Mona Rodriguez, the mother of a 5-month-old child, was allegedly involved in an altercation near a local high school on Monday that prompted the officer to intervene. An 18-year-old woman in Long Beach, Calif., who was shot in the head by a school safety officer earlier this week, was taken off life support on Friday, according to a family attorney.

Columbine crime scene photos