Welcome to Current Events Conversation, where each week we round up some of our favorite responses to one of our student writing prompts.
A recent joint investigation by The New York Times and The San Antonio Express-News revealed that an increase of police officers in Texas schools over the past decade has led to more criminal charges for students.
In the 2024-25 school year, about 4,800 children between the ages of 10 and 13 were referred for prosecution, The Times reports in “For Texas Schoolchildren, Minor Misbehavior Can Mean Criminal Charges.” That is a third more than the number a decade before. Most of the students were accused of minor offenses, like making threats, vaping, or lashing out at classmates or teachers.
We asked teenagers: What role, if any, should law enforcement have in schools?
They told us how seeing police officers on their campuses makes them feel; debated when schools should handle discipline and when officers should intervene; and shared what a truly safe school environment looks like to them.
Thank you to everyone who joined the conversation this week, including students from Valley Stream North High School in Valley Stream, N.Y.
Please note: Comments have been edited and condensed.
_________
For some students, a campus police presence means protection, order and peace of mind.
We do have law enforcement every day. There’s always a police car parked somewhere and security on campus in case there are any problems, to keep us safe. In my opinion, these are very effective. Law enforcement is not only nearby just in case something happens, but they also have authority and control, making people feel more secure.
— Alice, Cumberland Polytechnic
Law enforcement in schools is incredibly important when rightfully in schools, because they can protect children from any dangers that may occur. Especially because of school shootings becoming common in America. I personally think that the dangers in school means that most schools should have a working police officer there plus additional safety procedures.
— Sal
I believe that law enforcement should absolutely be in schools. I think this because of the problems many schools are having right now with threats to safety of students. Having law enforcement in school already can really help prevent or get quick help during an emergency regarding students’ safety like a school shooter for example. Having law enforcement in school also personally gives me peace of mind that I know if something bad happened they would be there to help the situation.
For others, it instills a sense of fear and anxiety.
The cops give some kids a sense of protection and a sense of peace, but they also give kids a sense of panic. Some kids have had bad encounters with cops and them being at the school could bring up past trauma. It’s unnecessary especially since the cops at my school mainly stand there doing nothing and walk around trying to show they are there and show intimidation.
I think that the police should never be present at schools unless there is an emergency. Schools should be relatively safe places for children to go, a place where one can get help, and some kids, particularly children of color, feel unsafe with the police around. This is an entirely different issue, but as a safe space our schools are failing us. If there were police presence on campuses, I do believe the number of students put into the justice system for very minor offenses would rise, perhaps even rapidly. A child should not be walking on eggshells while they are trying to get through the (already stressful) school days. The concept of monitoring by law enforcement almost feels like an authoritarian regime one finds in dystopian media.
Cops tend to carry an air of intimidation due to the power they hold, and as such, many kids our age or younger find themselves on guard or even scared around them. The constant arrests of young children for such minor offenses doesn’t help this feeling of unease, as children being arrested for simply not going to class or shoving another student would be much more likely to scare others to the point where they don’t know if they’ll be arrested for something small. This would foster an environment in which students are too scared to express themselves or act like kids.
— Maleah, Valley Stream North High School
An overwhelming majority argued that involving officers in everyday discipline and minor misbehavior does more harm than good.
The role that law enforcement should have in schools is to prevent dangerous scenarios such as gun violence from occurring as it is beneficial to the safety of students and staff. The problem arises when police officers begin to take on too much of a role in disciplinary action that can be handled by school officials. Students being arrested for vaping, getting into altercations with peers, and refusing to comply to school rules are all scenarios that could have been solved through the school’s disciplinary system and did not need the involvement of officers.
While, for the physical safety of students, it is important to have people at the ready to handle violence, they should be doing just that: handling violence. Police officers and security guards should not interact with students otherwise, because they are not trained specifically to deal with kids. I don’t want an adult who isn’t a teacher or adjacent talking to me at school, and I can speak for the elementary and middle schoolers who have been “swept into the justice system” as well (Sifton). If there isn’t an explicit and immediate threat to a student’s safety, then law enforcement officers have no grounds to act, at all.
Schools should be spaces for kids to learn from their mistakes, not places where they get funneled into the legal system for minor incidents. Law enforcement should only ever be a last resort for extreme safety threats, not a replacement for school counselors and discipline.
The involvement of police officers in academic settings — more specifically concerning situations that the school should handle itself — should be limited. By constantly arresting students for actions that could most likely be solved with detention — or similar practices — it not only hurts their families financially but can truly impact their emotional self as well. Academic lifestyles are negatively affected due to the complexity of the process accused students have to go through. Ultimately though, I firmly argue that students should not be arrested for routine classroom disruptions and minor misbehavior. Such issues are best handled through school-based discipline and support systems.
Pulling tens of thousands of elementary students and middle schoolers into the justice system is not valid based on the reasons of civil disputes such as slapping another kid on the playground, puffing on a vape, or kicking a principal in frustration. Detaining adolescents who still have developing minds is an action that will not change how they behave. Pulling children into a justice system and putting legal bills onto their family will only make them more frustrated and against change.
— Dana, Glenbard West High School
But a few countered that harsh consequences are necessary in schools that have become chaotic.
Public schools have become extremely chaotic and unrealistic, this is why we need police officers to enforce the rules and keep things in order. Cops provide fear for students and responsibility within the classrooms. The students, however, must understand that the cop will in fact achieve their goals, even if it means getting someone in trouble, making sure it is the real deal.
— NB, CPHS
In some schools, violence has become so common that in-school suspension is overcrowded. Clearly, that type of discipline isn’t enough for those kids. Obviously, I’m aware that petty fist fighting shouldn’t be enough to get a kid into the legal system, but I believe just having an officer at the school, just present, is enough to deter kids from doing harmful things.
I do believe that treating a kid and processing them as they would in an actual police situation can help a kid realize how their actions can have consequences. It could make them want to straighten up once they realize how serious it is.
In the end, most students said that real safety begins with a school environment built around compassion, support and trust.
I believe making my school safer and healthier requires more than just having police officers on campus. Schools should focus on preventing problems and making sure students feel supported, respected, and comfortable asking for help. One idea is to provide more access to counselors and mental health resources. Students sometimes deal with stress, bullying or personal problems and may not know who to talk to. Schools can solve disagreements peacefully instead of facing serious punishment immediately.
The whole point of growing up is learning about how the world works and making mistakes so you can learn from them and grow up to be a better person. School teachers and administrators understand this and as result generally do a great job addressing bad behavior of students and doing it in a way where students learn from their mistakes but aren’t afraid to make other mistakes and continue to learn. Law enforcement ignores a lot of the constructive process of growing up by using often harsh punishments for kids that aren’t bad people and creating anxiety about making mistakes.
— Grant, Glenbard West High School
Instead of police, we should invest in trained counselors and conflict-resolution teams. Last year, our school piloted a peer-mediator program that cut “late” incidents by 30% and reduced suspensions by 20%. A calm, supportive environment is safer for learning than a courtroom.
— Faizyab
Instead of having police officers who escalate minor situations into criminal charges, schools can just implement security guards. The security guards can limit misbehavior and give the students clear oversight from what’s right and wrong.
— Chandler, Valley Stream North High School
The example of the 12-year-old who was arrested, should not have involved the police. Instead, the school should have used warnings, parent meetings to discuss behavior, counseling, and consequences like detention if appropriate. Schools can also improve overall safety for others by strengthening security, prevent the act of bullying, and encouraging students to feel comfortable reporting concerns without the constant fear of getting in trouble.
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