School Resource Officers (SROs), sworn police stationed in schools, are now commonplace. But does their presence actually increase school safety? Dispute the widespread use of SROs, many believe that the answer is “no,” and that SROs spend much of their time and energy responding to minor disciplinary issues. We seek to test this hypothesis empirically. Through an inter-district study, focused especially on districts that have seen success without SROs, we will examine how how different actors—school administrators, teachers, parents—conceptualize “safety,” and the alternatives that exist for securing that ideal.

Learn more about our JEDI award to study this question.

Police departments, like most professions, need insurance. One of the most important aspects of insurance is risk management. We seek, accordingly, to understand the connection between risk management and policing as a whole. There seems to be a natural incentive for insurers of police departments to mitigate their exposure to risk by analyzing ways to reduce police misconduct. Liability insurance is one mechanism for this, but there are other mechanisms—and specific actors—in play, including municipal risk pools as well as internal supervision and compliance structures. We seek to pinpoint the barriers that prevent risk pools and private insurers from placing a greater emphasis on police misconduct in their management of risk.