By Gina Hathorn
In a letter dated January 11, ACLU Director, Laura W. Murphy and Senior Legislative Counsel Deborah J. Vagins, addressed some concerns with increased police in school settings. She recalled on a similar situation from the Clinton Administration, shortly after the shootings at Columbine. The increase in school surveillance and police officers does not necessarily mean the prevention of crime. In a press release, ACLU Director Laura W. Murphy voiced her concern: “We fear that neutral sounding safety policies, such as putting more cops in school will lead to the over-incarceration of school-age children, especially students of color and students with disabilities, who are disproportionately arrested and prosecuted for uses that would normally be handled by school administrators when law enforcement is introduced into schools.”
According to Murphy, certain safeguards need to be installed in order to prevent lawmakers from usurping the role of educators by “engaging in routine discipline.” It is the worry of the ACLU that an increase in police within the educational system will lead to over-policing and the criminalization of students. The letter cited three incidents at the primary school level of children being arrested for leaving school grounds, insubordination and battery. These incidents, though not reported in detail, represent moments where school policy was overridden by police officers. A fear of the ACLU is that this kind of policing will detract from the educational values of schools and lead to a militarization of our schools. Murphy comments on this topic, maintaining that, “teachers and administrators should have the ability to teach and to retain primary control over the punishment of students. Despite the president’s best intentions, funding more police officers in schools will turn sanctuaries for education into armed forces.”
Additionally, the letter provided alternate federal involvement to promote gun safety in schools, citing programs such as The Positive Behavior for Safe and Effective Schools Act and the Youth PROMISE Act. Murphy concluded by looking forward to an ongoing dialogue about this dynamic and concerning issue.
Despite the ACLU’s quick response to the Vice President Biden’s gun policy recommendation, President Obama signed 23 executive actions regarding gun control on January 16th. Two of these twenty-three refer specifically to changes in schools, with one specifically denoting incentives for schools that hire resource officers.
Sources: Letter from ACLU to Vice President Biden, January 11, 2013, http://www.aclu.org/files/assets/aclu_letter_to_vice_president_bidens_gun_violence_task_force.pdf.
Business Insider: http://www.businessinsider.com/obamas-executive-actions-on-gun-control-2013-1