There were actually police stationed in schools quite a bit in the 80s—certain communities definitely know this. Their presence grew more broadly after the shooting at Columbine, certainly, but they have been doing damage for a long time. https://twitter.com/krubner/status/1385587433861963782

Point in fact: there were SROs *at* Columbine during the time of the shooting.

ok, since we’re here, a mini-thread, bc I want to talk about another piece of “Cops Out Of Schools” that needs to happen whether police are stationed inside the building or not: interrogation of students & 4th Amendment issues:

Police—whether SROs or not—use school buildings to easily find & get admin support for questioning kids abt all kinds of issues. There is some case law abt when this becomes custodial interrogation, but it’s a standard that’s often measured after the fact.

When a principal calls a kid out of class to come talk to police, that is coercive. Yes, some states have parental notification laws, but usually it’s “reasonable efforts” + often parents think they’re helping when they’re actually making it worse: “Just tell them what you did."

If police are going to use school buildings & the inherent power that comes w/that to access kids, we either need to give kids lawyers before questioning happens or stop using schools as free access to kids who don’t know they can/are intimidated to refuse the questioning.