Impact of School Police On School Connectedness: Implications for School Social Workers

Background and Purpose: The purpose of this presentation is to examine how school social workers and school police officers may work together to effectively reduce school violence while also maintaining high levels of school connectedness and feelings of safety among students. Strengthening these relationships is essential given that the benefits associated with greater attachment to school have led many to identify increased school connectedness and development of a positive school environment as critical for violence prevention (e.g. Eisenbraun, 2007; Greene, 2005). Wike and Fraser (2009) describe that some methods intended to make schools safer seem to enhance feelings of connectedness; yet other studies have found that some strategies might in reality lower students' sense of school connectedness and thus actually contribute to higher levels of school violence (Greene, 2005; Hyman & Perone, 1998; Juvonen, 2001; Mayer & Leone, 1999).

School police officers are responsible for patrolling school buildings, investigating delinquent complaints, assisting with student discipline, educating students about safety and violence prevention, and mentoring students about proper behavior (Finn et al., 2005; Lawrence, 2007; Rich & Finn, 2001). Given the comprehensiveness of their duties, it is reasonable to expect that school police officers will impact students and schools. For example, Juvonen (2001) argued that police at schools heighten students' fears of violence and thus adversely affect the school environment.

Methods: To evaluate the impact of interacting with school police officers on students' attitudes and feelings, 1,956 middle and high school students at twelve schools in one school district completed a comprehensive survey about their feelings about school, perceptions of safety, experiences with school violence and contact with their school's police officer.

Feelings of school connectedness were measured using ten questions modeled after similar studies of school bonding (e.g. Goodenow, 1993; Skiba et al., 2004; DeVoe et al., 2004). These ten items were summed to a single scale with strong internal consistency (Cronbach's Alpha=.79). Data were analyzed using bivariate tests and multivariate linear regression modeling.

Results: Multivariate regression analyses showed that males, more violence experienced and more interactions with school police officers decreased students' level of school connectedness. Greater feelings of safety predicted increased school connectedness.

Conclusions and Implications: The negative impact of school police on feelings of school connectedness suggests that the presence of these officers might increase students' fear of crime or violence at school. Social workers at these schools should work with these officers and school staff to implement programs that increase students' feelings of connectedness and safety. Examples include implementation of school-based violence prevention teams consisting of staff, students, police officers, parents, and social workers (Eisenbraun, 2007) as well as educating teachers about effective classroom management and communication techniques and acting as a liaison between officers, students, teachers, and school administrators. Social workers also should coordinate opportunities for positive interactions between police and students, including extracurricular activities and school-improvement projects (Rabois and Haaga, 2002; Wike & Fraser, 2009). This presentation will describe these examples and others with an emphasis on the role of school social workers.