What is a School Resource Officer?

• A school resource officer (SRO) is a carefully selected, specifically trained, and properly equipped law enforcement officer with sworn authority, trained in school-based law enforcement and crisis response and assigned by an employing law enforcement agency to work collaboratively with one or more schools using community-oriented policing concepts.

What are appropriate roles of School Resource Officers?

• The goals of well-founded SRO programs include providing safe learning environments in schools, providing valuable resources to school staff members, fostering positive relationships with youth, developing strategies to resolve problems affecting youth and protecting all students, so that they can reach their fullest potentials.

How many School Resource Officers are there in the United States?

• At the end of the 2019–2020 school year, there were approximately 23,400 sworn school resource officers (SROs) in the United States, according to a November 2023 report published by the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the U.S. Department of Justice. About 11,500 (49%) of these SROs were employed by local police departments, 7,600 (32%) were employed by sheriffs’ offices, and 4,400 (19%) were employed by school district police departments.

Are School Resource Officers usually armed?

• Yes. A school resource officer is a commissioned, sworn law enforcement officer, not a “security guard.”

*Information above obtained from National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO)