13 - Surveillance and Public Schools

Summary

This chapter reveals how the concept of policing and surveillance of urban spaces has extended to K–12 schools. Comparing the initial intent of the use of police officers in schools to the ways in which police are deployed in the present day, empirical evidence shows that the espoused intent of improving the relationships between law enforcement and youth has quickly evolved into increased criminalization and incarceration of young, school-aged children for noncriminal activity, especially in K–12 schools where a majority of the student body is Black or Hispanic and White students are absent or in the minority. While policymakers have used random mass shootings, perpetrated almost exclusively by young, White males who attend suburban schools, as a major reason for increased hiring of police officers to patrol the schoolhouse, the ill-effects of the use of school resource officers (SROs) plague majority Black and Hispanic schools.