Recent challenges on the use of School Resource Officers (SRO) brought to the forefront the absence of evidence on the effectiveness of police officers in schools and the negative impact on youth, especially for Black, Indigenous, racialized, and vulnerable youth. Our understanding is limited as prior research is largely culture and race absent. Police work is experienced differently by people and this crucial context includes community concerns, lived experiences, perceptions of effectiveness by all stakeholders, key performance indicators to measure program success, and the variability of youth community mobilization strategies.
This study responds to the demand for police reform and removal of police officers in schools by evaluating the OPP SRO Program and how police interact with youth, and doing so through an equity, anti-oppression, and anti-racism lens. Data from surveys, Town Hall meetings, interviews, online feedback, Gaataa’aabings, patrol ride alongs, and calls for service will be used to address four research objectives.
- Review the OPP SRO Program, role, community partnerships, goals, and outcomes.
- Through meaningful engagement and dialogue identify community needs, issues, and concerns on responses to youth crime and explore ways to develop positive relationships between the police, youth, and the community.
- Examine police interactions with youth both on and off school property.
- Identify systemic issues at the community level focusing on the perceptions and experiences of community members, Indigenous Peoples and communities, Black, and racialized persons, School Boards, OPP members, Police Service Boards, and those who work with vulnerable, LGBTQ2SIA+, and at-risk youth.
Outcome/recommendations
The results will provide evidence-based recommendations on:
- Whether the SRO program should continue, change, or be cancelled.
- Identify potential alternative strategies for police interactions with youth.
- Actionable steps to address inequities, systemic, and institutional racism and discrimination experienced by youth when interacting with the police.