For the past 10 years, Officer Tracy Taylor has spent part of his days walking the hallways of DC Public Schools. He’s one of a dwindling number of school resource officers, or SROs, assigned to public and charter schools in the District.
“We’re here to help children. We’re not here to arrest them. We’re not here to intimidate them,” Taylor said. “Every day that I come to work, I want to touch someone’s life. I want to help someone.”
As school shootings continue across the country and with at least two fatal shootings near D.C. schools this year, the debate on whether or not to have police officers inside public schools is heating up.
At Eastern High School, the Northeast D.C. school where Taylor is assigned, the principal said he doesn’t want to see him go.
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“My fear is that we’ll still have police support, we’ll still have police responding to issues of violence in the community and things that might endanger our students, but those officers won’t have the same level of relationships with the students,” Principal Steve Miller said.
The D.C. Council voted in 2020 to phase out SROs by 2025. Mayor Muriel Bowser has tried to reverse that decision, and the council is divided on the issue.
During the height of the SRO program, D.C. public and charter schools had more than 100 officers. There are now fewer than 40, though schools do have other security personnel. Council Member Zachary Parker introduced legislation that would create a safety director position for each school.
Several groups oppose having police in schools.
The advocacy group EmpowerEd said in a statement: “Research shows comparable schools with SROs have more student arrests, suspension, expulsions and worse incidents of violence. Too often police intervention escalates rather than de-escalates serious incidents. Instead we need to coordinate our approaches better — between violence interruption programs, safe passage, restorative justice, behavioral health and more.”
Samantha Davis of the group Black Swan Academy was part of a small protest outside the D.C. Council offices last week calling for alternatives.
“We need to do more around school safety. We need to invest in real, true safety to go beyond policing. We are not going to be able to police ourselves out of this situation,” she said.
Taylor has a different take.
“I don’t get it. I don’t understand it, because we’re really needed. If you feel like we’re not needed … you’re going to throw me away like a piece of trash, at the expense of these children,” he said.
