The latest report reveals that the presence of school cops leads to a doubling of student arrest rates, with race and gender playing a significant role.

Arrests occurred twice as frequently at schools with regular police presence compared to similar campuses without such a presence. A new report from the government watchdog revealed that factors such as race, gender, and disability played a significant role in determining which students were detained.

The Report from the Government Accountability Office indicated that when the statuses of “race, gender, and disability overlap” — a concept often referred to as intersectionality — students were subjected to even more adverse outcomes.

“Race, gender, and disability are all influential in arrest situations, but their impact varies among different student groups,” explained report author Jacqueline Nowicki, the GAO’s director of education, workforce, and income security, in an interview with The 74.

An analysis conducted by the GAO utilizing federal student arrest data revealed that Black and indigenous students experienced school-based arrests at rates two to three times higher than their white peers. The report also highlighted the disproportionate arrest rates, especially for boys with disabilities.

Research showed that students with disabilities were arrested at higher rates compared to students of the same gender who did not receive special education services. However, the data indicated that Black girls without disabilities faced a higher arrest rate than white girls with disabilities.

The GAO’s report contributes valuable insights to the ongoing discussion about the impact of police presence in schools. Debates continue about whether law enforcement in schools enhances safety or exacerbates the school-to-prison pipeline, especially for marginalized student populations. Following the 2020 incident where a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd, some school districts terminated their partnerships with local police amid student and community protests. However, many later reinstated police due to increased mental health and behavior issues among students post-pandemic.

The report, mandated by Congress, disclosed that schools with frequent police involvement in student discipline had notably high student arrest rates. Both education and law enforcement officials noted that routine student discipline fell outside the intended scope of school-based police operations.

The federal watchdog’s conclusions were based on an assessment of recent pre-pandemic student arrest data nationwide provided by the U.S. Education Department. Additionally, site visits were conducted at three undisclosed districts in California, Maryland, and Texas. During these visits, researchers gained firsthand exposure to the dynamics of police presence in schools. Although officers were not supposed to engage in routine discipline activities like classroom misbehavior on paper, school staff often lacked a clear understanding of the appropriate involvement of police.

“Some districts explicitly prohibited police from participating in discipline matters, yet officers claimed that teachers and administrators called them for disciplinary issues,” Nowicki stated. “There is not always a common or clear understanding of the roles and responsibilities of police in schools, even in districts where police presence is endorsed.”

Mo Canady, the executive director of the nonprofit National Association of School Resource Officers, emphasized the variations in school policing models across different districts. While officers are generally trained to avoid intervention in student disciplinary incidents, there are no national regulations specifying their training or selection procedures.

“There are recommended best practices, but no mandatory national standards,” Canady, whose organization offers training to school-based officers, remarked. “This indicates a lack of uniform national guidelines in this area.”

Studies have long highlighted the persistent racial disparities in student suspensions, expulsions, and arrests. A recent report revealed that officers viewed students as more threatening in schools with a higher proportion of students of color compared to predominantly white schools.

Academic research continues to question the effectiveness of officers in preventing campus crime and violence. Another study showed that employing school resource officers led to a marginal reduction in certain school violence incidents like fights but a noticeable increase in student disciplinary actions, particularly among Black students and those with disabilities.

In Chicago, the removal of police officers from some high schools since 2020 has yielded positive outcomes, according to recent research from the University of Chicago. The study indicated that eliminating school police significantly correlated with lower high-level discipline infractions.

Nowicki from GAO doubted that the differential arrest rates could be solely attributed to more frequent significant behavioral incidents in schools with a regular police presence compared to those without.

“I am not convinced that the justification is simply that there is more crime in schools with police,” she contested.