New ACLU report reveals Black Iowa students continue to face disproportionate school arrests, referrals by school resource officers

A newly released report from the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa (ACLU) argues that the growing presence of School Resource Officers (SROs) in Iowa schools has resulted in harmful outcomes, particularly for Black students.

The report, Rethinking School Safety in Iowa: The Harms of School Resource Officers, closely examines the roles of these police officers through an analysis of federal civil rights data, national research and 154 public records requests submitted to various school districts and law enforcement agencies across Iowa.

According to the ACLU, Black students represent approximately 7% of Iowa’s public school population but account for 13% of referrals to law enforcement and 21% of school-based arrests involving School Resource Officers. The report delves further into this, stating that Black students are referred to law enforcement at roughly twice the rate of other students and arrested at 3.7 times the rate of their peers. Rita Bettis Austen, ACLU of Iowa legal director, explained that SROs can cause more harm than good.

“The research shows while SROs are usually placed in schools to benefit school safety, that, unfortunately, isn’t borne out in outcomes,” Bettis Austen said in an ACLU press release. “Instead, SRO programs create harms for many students by treating what would traditionally be handled through normal school discipline, or what is the result of a student’s disability and unmet educational support needs, as criminal or delinquent. While the harms can impact all kids, disproportionately these harms are being experienced by Black students and students with disabilities.” 

Students with disabilities, who make up 13% of Iowa’s student population, also face disproportionate interactions with SROs, according to the report. They account for 27% of referrals and 26% of arrests involving School Resource Officers. 

This report comes as Iowa has overall expanded the use of SROs. The report notes that the number of SROs increased by 23% between 2018 and 2021; it also reviewed national studies and found no independent research demonstrating that schools with School Resource Officers are safer than those without them, including during mass school shootings.

“The stated goal is usually to keep students safe, and nothing is more important,” Bettis Austen said. “But unfortunately, there is no high-quality evidence that police staffing in schools actually does increase student safety.”

She went on to say that the presence of officers often changes how schools respond to student behavior. 

“The presence of an SRO too often leads schools to respond to regular disciplinary and behavioral needs of students — which traditionally have been handled less harshly by schools and parents — by referring those kids to police,” Bettis Austen said. “That can funnel kids —particularly Black students and students with disabilities — into the juvenile delinquency and adult criminal court systems.”

She added that these interactions can have long lasting consequences on the students and families involved.

“When kids interact with and enter those systems, it often can leave a lifelong mark on them,” Bettis Austen said. “For many, it causes trauma, depression, anxiety, and separation and isolation from family and other supports. The stigma associated with hostile police interactions, detentions, and arrests can result in an identity shift to being a ‘bad kid.’ That is the school-to-prison pipeline.”

In their report, the ACLU of Iowa recommends that Iowa school districts eliminate SRO programs entirely and instead invest in counselors, mental health professionals, social workers, restorative justice programs and other student support services.

“We want to support kids, parents, and schools with this report by giving them concrete information about what is happening here in Iowa and by suggesting reforms to address harms,” Bettis Austen said. “This starts with eliminating SROs altogether.”

If schools and law enforcement insist on maintaining these School Resource Officer programs, the ACLU of Iowa suggests stricter training requirements, more thorough reporting of SRO activities, measurable goals for the SRO program, clear guidelines for the officers’ involvement in schools and clear complaint procedures.

Read the report here:

*Cover graphic made using CANVA AI.