Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Double Naught Spy
The SROs are supposed to be those highly trained people we wanted protecting the kids. They are supposed to be the ones with the active shooter training that know to follow protocol to go in (at their risk) and neutralize the shooter. That is literally the job they sign up for and are supposed to be trained to perform.
|
I think this is an optimistic view of what SROs are, and are supposed to be.
SROs are School
RESOURCE Officers, not School Protection Officers. Their primary function is keeping peace within the school and providing a positive role model for the kids. When the grammar school in my town had an SRO, he was an older gentleman, considerably overweight, whose only function in the police department other than SRO was to act as the department's photographer. (He also worked part-time in a camera shop at a mall in a nearby city.)
The SRO at Parklands in Florida was there primarily to pencil whip the reports of delinquent behavior. If you have read up at all on the "Broward Solution," what this refers to is a program the County had in place to report felonies as misdemeanors, and to not report misdemeanors as crimes. The purpose of this, which was carried out with the cooperation of the Superintendent (and possibly/probably at his request), was to improve the statistics regarding criminal activity in the school system.
It's nice to think of SROs as the first line of defense against active shooters, but I don't think most school districts or PDs regard them as such.