Oppose HB 613: Cops don’t make schools safe!

March 10, 2022

House Bill 613 aims to double mandatory state funding for school policing from $10 million to $20 million per year. Yet, the data shows that the school policing model increases arrests of students for childhood behaviors and undermines equity, while failing to yield safety improvements. Urge members of the House of Delegates Appropriations Committee to oppose the bill. Contact information is below.

Maryland’s State Department of Education reports that:

• Approximately 70% of school-based arrests are for low-level offenses better handled outside the juvenile and criminal systems – e.g. run-of-the-mill fights without weapons or disruption.
• Black students are 56% of those arrested in school, even though they are only a third of the student population. Research suggests that this is because Black students are more likely to attend schools with police, and because Black children are more likely to be seen as responsible even when they engage in the same behaviors as white children.
• Students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) are 23% of those arrested in school, even though they are only 12% of the student population. Arrests of students with IEPs often target disability-related non-violent behavior.

Meanwhile, police presence fails to deter school shootings or otherwise make schools safer and are, in fact, linked to an increase in casualties resulting from school shootings. Studies demonstrate that school police have not been effective in deterring school shootings or any other kind of school violence.

• FEMA recently summarized “accumulating research [which] has shown that the conspicuous security, including the presence of school resource officers, have little to no effect in preventing school shootings, or reducing casualties.”

• A 2020 investigation of the impact of expansions of school policing in Florida found “little consistent evidence that the presence of law enforcement decreased the number of behavioral incidents occurring, indicating that school-based law enforcement were not necessarily making schools safer.”

• A study of 3,000 schools nationwide found “no evidence suggesting that SRO or other sworn law-enforcement contribute to school safety.”

• An analysis of 111 shootings concluded that “active shooters do not favor gun-free zones” – which means that armed officers in schools are not likely to deter gunmen.

• A review of over 40 years of research found that the “evidence . . . fails to support a safety effect” associated with officer presence at schools.

• Police presence is linked with a 3X increase in the number of casualties resulting from a school shooting.

Expanding the state SRO fund will make schools less safe, not more, by subjecting students – particularly Black students and students with disabilities – to harsh criminal consequences for adolescent behaviors while doing nothing to prevent school shootings or any other school-based violence.

Please urge members of the House Appropriations committee to vote no on HB 613. If you send an email, be sure to include your address to confirm that you are a constituent. Don’t know your representatives? Check mdelect.net to find out.

House Appropriations Committee Members
All Delegates can be reached at 1-800-492-7122 with their extension.

Maggie McIntosh, maggie.mcintosh@house.state.md.us, ext. 3407
Mark S. Chang, mark.chang@house.state.md.us, ext. 3511
Gabriel Acevero, gabriel.acevero@house.state.md.us, ext. 3001
Benjamin (Ben) S. Barnes, ben.barnes@house.state.md.us, ext. 3046
Wendell R. Beitzel, wendell.beitzel@house.state.md.us, ext. 3435
D. Anonio (Tony) Bridges, tony.bridges@house.state.md.us, ext. 3283
Catherine M. Forbes, catherine.forbes@house.state.md.us, ext. 3487
Jefferson L. Ghrist, jeff.ghrist@house.state.md.us, ext. 3555
Shaneka T. Henson, shaneka.henson@house.state.md.us, ext. 3045
Trent M. Kittleman, trent.kittleman@house.state.md.us, ext. 3556
Marc A. Korman, marc.korman@house.state.md.us, ext. 3649
Carol L. Krimm, carol.krimm@house.state.md.us, ext. 3472
Jazz M. Lewis, jazz.lewis@house.state.md.us, ext. 3691
Nino Mangione, nino.mangione@house.state.md.us, ext. 3258
Michael W. McKay, mike.mckay@house.state.md.us, ext. 3321
Richard (Ric) W. Metzgar, ric.metzgar@house.state.md.us, ext. 3332
Reid J. Novotny, reid.novotny@house.state.md.us, ext. 3582
Elizabeth (Susie) G. Proctor, susie.proctor@house.state.md.us, ext. 3083
Kirill Reznik, kirill.reznik@house.state.md.us, ext. 3039
Stephanie M. Smith, stephanie.smith@house.state.md.us, ext. 3486
Jared Solomon, jared.solomon@house.state.md.us, ext. 3130
Geraldine Valentino-Smith, geraldine.valentino@house.state.md.us, ext. 3101
Patrick G. Young, Jr., pat.young@house.state.md.us, ext. 3544