Police are slated to return to Milwaukee Public Schools in January. But do cops in schools help or hurt?
When students return to Milwaukee Public Schools after winter break, they could be greeted by 25 police officers stationed throughout the district.
As part of a June state law that boosted local government funding, lawmakers tucked in a requirement for MPS to work with the Milwaukee Police Department to hire at least 25 school resource officers by Jan. 1.
The move is a mandated reversal for the district, which had cut its last contract with police in 2020. Research has increasingly questioned whether police are effective in schools, finding that they do not deter intruders and can wear down students' mental health.
MPS administrators and school board members have not discussed their plans for these officers in public board meetings. Milwaukee School Board President Marva Herndon said district administrators have been meeting privately with police officials, and she expects they will soon present a contract to the board for approval.
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With state lawmakers showing interest in requiring officers in more districts, eyes are on Milwaukee to see how it responds to the state mandate and how it affects students.
What does research show about police in schools?
Ben Fisher, a University of Wisconsin-Madison associate professor who reviewed 32 evaluations of school-based police programs, said he found that police in schools weren't shown to diminish school violence, crime or the presence of weapons or drugs.
Police in schools have also led to more suspensions, Fisher said, possibly because of officers informing administrators about offenses, especially subjective offenses such as "disrespect" that might otherwise be handled differently by school staff.
An April study by the University at Albany and the RAND Corp., reviewing data from 2014 to 2018, found that school resource officers reduced some forms of violence in schools but did not prevent gun-related incidents. It found that having police in schools led to more suspensions, expulsions and arrests.
A 2021 study of school shootings over four decades found that armed officers had not deterred violence, and that the presence of an armed officer was the top factor associated with a higher death toll. The researchers referenced the "weapons effect," whereby the presence of a weapon increases aggression, as well as research that suggests an armed officer may be an incentive for a suicidal shooter.
More: More school districts are bringing back or adding police. Experts say it may not help
As for how students feel about school-based officers, Fisher said his research found mixed responses, with some students saying they felt safer with police in their buildings. On the other hand, Fisher said, a police presence made students more attuned to a sense of danger, and some students saw police as a source of violence.
Fisher said he hasn't seen strong research about whether students in different neighborhoods feel differently about police in their schools. But Fisher has found differences in how police view their roles, depending on the district.
In interviews with 73 school resource officers in two anonymous districts — an unidentified urban district in the Midwest and a whiter and wealthier (also unidentified) suburban district in the south — Fisher and his research team found that officers in the urban district considered the students to be the main threats, while those in the suburban district were concerned with protecting students from the threat of an outside intruder.
Numerous studies have found that police in schools lead to more arrests and disciplinary actions against Black students, male students and students with disabilities. In Milwaukee, Leaders Igniting Transformation, a youth advocacy group, published reports in 2018 and 2022 that outlined higher rates of police referrals and suspensions locally for the same groups.
MPS removed school resource officers from inside its schools in 2016, in response to complaints about police unnecessarily citing and arresting students for incidents that could have been handled as disciplinary matters by the district.
It then moved to having police only outside the district's buildings, a practice that ended in 2020 in the wake of protests over the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The board's decision came after youth and local advocates called for the district to cut ties with police.
"We fear that the decision to force SROs back in schools will jeopardize the safety and well being of Black and Brown students and students with disabilities," the organization said in an email to the Journal Sentinel, adding, "What we need instead is additional resources to support young people’s growth and academic success — mental health professionals, after school programs, adequate facilities and up-to-date textbooks."
One example of the kind of resource that might help: additional classes in restorative justice, such as that used in MPS' Audubon High School.
Restorative justice is a framework that focuses on repairing the damage from breaking a rule or, in the case of the criminal justice system, committing a crime instead of punishment. It works to have individuals accept responsibility for their actions and rebuild community relationships all while including those harmed in the process, according to the University of Wisconsin Law School. What that looks like can vary, including mediation, conflict resolution programs, reparations and more.
Audubon High School uses the class as a way to create a safer school environment and reduce suspensions.
In 2021, a Johns Hopkins Medicine review of 40 years of studies found police contact with Black youth can be associated with poor mental health, substance use, risky sexual behaviors and impaired safety. One of the researchers said in a news release that the study showed “contact with police often leads to Black youth being treated as adults at ages when they should just be children, a phenomenon known as ‘adultification.’”
Asked how MPD thinks the presence of their officers will affect students, Heather Hough, chief of staff to Chief Jeffrey Norman, said the department "cannot speculate."
"MPD is hopeful for a collaborative positive partnership with MPS and its students," Hough said in an email.
What's required for having police in Wisconsin schools?
With the exception of MPS, it's up to every individual school district to determine whether they want police in their schools and in what capacity.
School districts enter into agreements with local police for officers to work as school resource officers. Sometimes, school districts and police departments split the cost of the officers’ salaries.
Ultimately, there aren't any specific requirements for what a school resource officer's duties are. But they do maintain their law enforcement authority, such as the ability to make arrests and conduct searches, according to the state Office of School Safety.
In 2016, the Department of Public Instruction and the Wisconsin Department of Justice created best practices for school districts developing a school resource officer program.
One of the key points, according to the guidance, is that the role of a school resource officer is not the same as a traditional police officer.
“As a (school resource officer), their focus is also on providing redirection and guidance, and engaging in educational and relationship building activities,” according to the guidance.
It also says officers shouldn’t be used to enforce student discipline, and even if they assist in an incident, that doesn’t mean students should necessarily be taken into custody or given tickets.
Because every program is different, training varies too.
School districts decide what type of training officers, teachers and school administrators receive on student behavior and how to handle those situations. The guidelines recommend school resource officers be trained on cultural competency, seclusion and restraint policies, de-escalation, mental health and mandatory reporting requirements, among other topics.
What Wisconsin districts have police in schools?
It's unknown how many police officers are in Wisconsin schools because there is no statewide tracking. The state Department of Public Instruction doesn't track it, and the Wisconsin Department of Justice did not answer emails or phone calls about any data. But the majority of Wisconsin's largest school districts do have police.
Of the 10 largest school districts in the state, only Milwaukee and Madison don't have school resources officers, and that will soon change for MPS.
Having police in schools dates back decades for some districts. The Green Bay School District has had police in its schools since 1976. Before the Madison Metropolitan district removed police from its schools in 2020, officers had been in the district since the 1990s.
The Kenosha School District, the third largest district in the state with 18,622 students, has four police officers in its schools. The Green Bay School District, which has about 300 fewer students than Kenosha, has 11.
The Appleton Area School District also stands out because, while it's the sixth largest district in the state, it has 12 police officers for 15,200 students.
The Racine Unified School District has about 500 more students than Appleton, but it has three full-time officers. The district has other part-time officers who provide security at the district's schools, but it's not their primary assignment.
Waukesha, Eau Claire, Sheboygan Area and Janesville school districts have between 9,000 and 11,000 students and all have five or six officers.
What does Act 12 require for MPS?
The new Wisconsin law, Act 12, requires MPS to ensure by Jan. 1 that it has at least 25 school resource officers, defined as Milwaukee Police Department officers who are assigned to work full time at schools. MPS is the only school district that faces this requirement.
The law also requires MPS and other high schools to collect data about incidents of disorderly conduct and certain crimes on school property and school transportation. Beginning in the 2025-26 school year, MPS would be required to consider those statistics in determining where to place the 25 police officers.
Where do things stand now for MPS?
Herndon, president of the Milwaukee School Board, said MPS administrators have had meetings with MPD officials, and she's waiting for them to bring a proposed contract to the school board for approval. She said that should happen in December, given the January deadline.
"We're prepared to work with the state mandate, but the details haven't been ironed out," Herndon said in a Nov. 28 interview. "As I understand it, what has been a problem for awhile is lack of officers, so that has to be worked out."
MPS school board member Henry Leonard said he traveled to Georgia on Nov. 30 with MPS Superintendent Keith Posley and Norman, the Milwaukee police chief, to observe school resource officer programs there.
Hough said the department is "working toward" a goal of having a contract in place by Jan. 1.
Who will pay for the officers in MPS schools?
The state law, which didn't provide funding for these officers, requires MPS and MPD to come to an agreement about how to share the costs. State officials estimated the total cost could be $2 million.
When MPS and MPD had an agreement for school resource officers in 2018, each agreed to pay for half the costs of up to 12 officers, with a maximum payment of about $478,000 from MPS.
Hough said the department did not have a cost estimate and did not share a plan for sharing the costs this time around.
Leonard said it won't be easy for anyone to pay.
"All of us, MPS, MPD and the city, are all looking at each other like, we don't have money for this," Leonard said.
Amy Mizialko, president of the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association, argued that MPS should not pay for an "unfunded mandate" from Republican lawmakers, noting that the district already has non-police safety personnel.
"MPS already has the largest school security force in the state," Mizialko said. "MTEA represents MPS School Safeties and has advocated for higher pay, more hours and more advanced training for those members."
Leaders Igniting Transformation, which organized public rallies that successfully called for the district to cut contracts with police in 2020, also called on board members to now reject paying for officers. They called the state law an overreach of the board's authority.
"We encourage the school board to stand firm in their original decision to end contracts with MPD and that they should not be responsible for footing the bill for these 25 new officers," the organization said in an email.
What do we know about the 25 officers?
Asked whether the officers would be those who volunteer for the positions, Hough said the assignments would be "based upon those who want the role, and those who would be the best fit for the job duties determined by MPS."
Hough said the duties and training of the officers would be up to MPS.
Herndon, the school board president, said she'd like the police to work differently in the schools than they did in past years, before MPS cut the contracts. She said students were concerned about officers getting involved in school issues that could be better handled by a principal or social worker.
"Years ago, they'd be walking the halls and doing all sorts of things, and perhaps being disciplinarians," Herndon said.
Herndon said she hasn't seen any agreements that MPS or police officials may be developing, but she would expect that officers would receive more training on when to get involved and how to "minimize and deflate" situations, especially for children with disabilities.
The state law requires the officers to complete a 40-hour course from the National Association of School Resource Officers.
Contact Rory Linnane at rory.linnane@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @RoryLinnane.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Will Milwaukee police return to MPS schools in January? What we know.
