Data on Edmonton police officers in schools shows program must end, researchers say

Data on the use of police in Edmonton classrooms suggests some students are being shepherded toward the justice system, say the independent researchers who gathered the data.

The Edmonton SRO Research Project examines 10 years of data about the School Resource Officer (SRO) program, obtained through a freedom of information request. Researchers Alex Da Costa and Bashir Mohamed want to see the program end and hope the project will create a more-informed debate.

"The school resource officer program has existed since 1979 and this type of data has never been released," Mohamed said.

"We think everyone deserves to see the raw data and to make their own conclusions."

The SRO program has operated for about 40 years and places Edmonton police officers in some junior and senior high schools.

According to the data on outcomes, there were 4,911 suspensions and 645 expulsions reported through the program between September 2011 and March 2020. The data does not indicate whether these were individual students or repeated sanctions.

The data shows 3,231 charges were issued from September 2011 through June 2018, although it does not indicate whether these are criminal. This includes 1,606 charges in 2016  — about 16 times the previous year — which the researchers believe to be an error.

From September 2018 through to the end of 2021, 271 criminal charges were laid. The project's analysis puts the total at more than 2,000 charges over the 10-year period.

About 20,000 students were labelled as offenders, excluding around 3,000 offenders designated as N/S or "non-student."

Edmonton police issued a statement Monday clarifying the term offender includes individuals who have committed a criminal offence or found in contravention of provincial statutes or bylaws.

Not all questions to the Edmonton Police Service for clarifications on data points were answered before publication.

There are currently 14 SROs across 17 schools in Edmonton.

Edmonton school reviews

Mohamed said while SROs do engage in community relations — the data shows numerous hours dedicated to coaching, counselling and other activities —  the numbers also demonstrate an underplayed punitive aspect of the program, which has harmful impacts on the lives of students.

"At the end of the day, we approach this from the lens that criminalization of students is negative and that there's more effective ways to promote safer environments."

Last year, Edmonton public schools paused the SRO program as it undergoes review from an external researcher with a focus on the experiences of students of colour. A final report is expected come November.

A Youth Enhanced Deployment model now sees officers assigned over north and south geographic areas to respond to school calls while doing community policing.

Edmonton Catholic Schools has continued its participation in the program but a review is underway. Three university researchers have been contracted and are in the final stages of the project, according to a spokesperson. Their results and recommendations will be brought forward to an upcoming board meeting.

Edmonton police spokesperson Cheryl Sheppard said police will continue to work closely with ECSD to ensure "a safe learning environment for everyone.

"Through positive youth engagement activities, we believe SROs build strong positive rapport with the school community."

Building those relationships is a reason to support the program, according to a former school resource officer.

Josée Smith served as a school officer for the Leduc RCMP in the mid-2000s. She covered 15 schools in a role that she said was predominantly teaching classrooms about issues like drug use or impaired driving.

Students would come to her to report concerns but she was not always involved with investigations because of her wide coverage.

"I was not there at all being the big guy with the gun on my hip," Smith said. "I was there to be the school resource officer — I'm there for resources, I'm there to help them."

'School-to-prison pipeline'

One conclusion of the project is that the program helps create a "school-to-prison pipeline."

Da Costa, who is also an associate professor of educational policy studies at the University of Alberta, said suspensions and expulsions lead to a higher chance students will drop out or not return to school.

"We know that students who are pushed out of school have a higher chance of involving themselves in other forms of activities during the school hours, which tends to put them in run-ins with the law."

He said it's important to consider how to make schools a safe environment that nurtures all students and learners, including those from marginalized groups.

Missing from the data is any information regarding race. 

Temitope Oriola, a University of Alberta criminologist studying the role of school resources officers across Canada, said the number of expulsions and suspensions is troubling.

"We know that these disciplinary mechanisms to suspensions and expulsions tend to affect BIPOC children," he said. 

"This is feeding the criminal justice system, but also creating for them misery down the road."

He is also concerned that the presence of police in schools brings students into contact with the justice system for minor deviances to be expected from teenagers.

"When you have a hammer, as they say, somehow everything becomes a nail."