School resource officers ticketed 25 students and arrested five last fall in their first full semester back in Denver Public Schools buildings, according to new data released by Colorado’s largest district.
Black students were disciplined disproportionately last semester, making up about one-third of those arrested or ticketed despite being only 13% of the district’s student population, according to the data released to The Denver Post via a public-records request.
“We know that our schools must be a place were all students feel safe,” DPS Chief of Safety Greg Cazzell said during a school board meeting Thursday. “There’s still work to be done.”
The arrests and citations data is incomplete, he said, adding that the district can’t compare the numbers to arrest and citation data recorded during the years when SROs were removed from campus because the later data is also flawed.
Students were arrested and ticketed at nine schools for various reasons, including car theft, possession of a handgun, assault and driving while intoxicated, according to the data.
The school board voted last year to reverse a 2020 policy prohibiting armed officers on campuses, a move that allowed SROs to return to the district for the foreseeable future. Board members made the decision after months of debate over how to act after last year’s shooting inside East High School in which a student wounded two administrators.
When the board voted, members directed district officials to track when students were ticketed or arrested and give routine reports on the data.
Officers were stationed at 13 campuses, mostly comprehensive high schools, when students returned to school in the fall under an agreement DPS struck with the Denver Police Department.
Board members were divided in their decision to reinstate SROs, with some arguing that having police in schools harms students of color and perpetuates the school-to-prison pipeline because Black and Latino students are arrested and ticketed at disproportionately high rates.
Board member Scott Esserman said during Thursday’s meeting that the board needs to reconsider its decision to put officers back into schools.
“We need to look at other systems that actually dismantle systems of oppression,” he said.
“We’re just going to continue to see this to go up,” Esserman said about the arrests and citations.
Research shows that the presence of SROs on campus can reduce violence, but it isn’t clear whether the officers prevent shootings. Research also has shown that when SROs are present, students of color are more likely to be punished with expulsions and arrests.
Movimiento Poder, which works to ensure DPS students are not overly disciplined, released a report last year that showed the number of tickets and arrests in the district had fallen for almost a decade, including after the board decided to remove SROs in 2020.
The district reported 151 tickets and student arrests during the 2021-22 academic year, which was an almost 80% decrease from the 744 tickets and arrests in 2018-19, the last full school year before the pandemic and before the board voted to remove SROs, according to the organization’s report.
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