Education

How Helpful Are Police Officers In Schools?

Today there are at least 14,000 officers in American schools.

How Helpful Are Police Officers In Schools?
Matthew Brown / AP
SMS

The 1950s had the first documented school policing programs, according to the National Institute of Justice.

Today there are at least 14,000 officers in American schools.  Two thirds of American students attend a school with officers present. 

Many are known as school resource officers. 

How did these officers get here? What is their job like? And what does the school-going public think?