Extensive research has shown that increased police presence in schools has not solved student discipline problems. Nor is there any evidence that it has made schools safer - and that holds true whether the officers are armed or not. Research also shows that putting a commissioned police force in schools leads to increased court referrals, placing students at significantly higher risk of failure in school and extended involvement in the juvenile and adult criminal justice systems.
Before assigning armed, commissioned police officers to the Philadelphia schools, city leaders should carefully consider the drawbacks we've experienced in Texas. Texas Appleseed, the public-interest law center I work for, found that assigning more police officers to schools coincided with a dramatic increase in student arrests, as well as misdemeanor ticketing for low-level offenses that used to mean a trip to the principal's office. About 300,000 such tickets are issued annually in Texas to children as young as 6, triggering court appearances, fines, community service, and in some cases a criminal record.
As it happens, an Appleseed analysis of student ticketing in Texas school districts over the course of a year put Houston schools at the top of the list, with 4,828 tickets issued. Houston police did not produce data on student arrests, but thousands are arrested each year in districts of comparable size.
Texas legislative and judicial leaders are attempting to rein in such ticketing and arrests in schools, with the support of concerned parents, court personnel, advocacy groups, and educators. This year, state lawmakers moved to end the ticketing of elementary-school students for nonviolent offenses, a practice that was allowed to flourish because of the presence of commissioned police officers in Texas schools.
