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1. To Protect, Serve, and Mentor? Police Officers in Public Schools

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Schools Under Surveillance
This chapter is in the book Schools Under Surveillance
Chapter 1To Protect, Serve, and Mentor?Police Officers in Public SchoolsAaron Kupchik and Nicole L. BracyA recent report published by the New York Civil Liberties Union (Mukherjee 2007) describes the growth in numbers of police offi cers and school safety agents (who are under the control of the New York City Police Department) in New York City public schools, and abuses of students and school staff at the hands of these offi cers. The report is disturbing—the abuses described include physical abuse and sexual harass-ment of students, retaliatory arrests of school staff who protect students from abuse at the hands of police, and other offenses. After illustrating the litany of problems associated with police in schools, the report concludes that these offi cers should be better trained and supervised, that there should be a process in place for reporting abuses by these offi cers, and that they should be under the control of the schools rather than reporting only to the police department.The report’s conclusion tells us a great deal about the rarity of critical thought concerning whether police ought to be in public schools to begin with. Perhaps some schools—such as those in high-crime neighborhoods of New York City—need full-time offi cers. But are those offi cers necessary in low-crime areas as well? There seems to be no discussion among educators, policy makers, the media, or the general public about whether police in schools might be a bad idea. This silence sharply diverges from the debates surrounding other school initiatives such as dress codes, school vouchers, or zero-tolerance policies. Apparently, even the New York Civil Liberties Union has accepted the idea that it is unproblematic to extend the criminal justice system into schools by placing armed, uniformed police offi cers there, so long as they are properly supervised and trained, since their very presence goes unquestioned within this otherwise scathing report.121
© 2020 Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick

Chapter 1To Protect, Serve, and Mentor?Police Officers in Public SchoolsAaron Kupchik and Nicole L. BracyA recent report published by the New York Civil Liberties Union (Mukherjee 2007) describes the growth in numbers of police offi cers and school safety agents (who are under the control of the New York City Police Department) in New York City public schools, and abuses of students and school staff at the hands of these offi cers. The report is disturbing—the abuses described include physical abuse and sexual harass-ment of students, retaliatory arrests of school staff who protect students from abuse at the hands of police, and other offenses. After illustrating the litany of problems associated with police in schools, the report concludes that these offi cers should be better trained and supervised, that there should be a process in place for reporting abuses by these offi cers, and that they should be under the control of the schools rather than reporting only to the police department.The report’s conclusion tells us a great deal about the rarity of critical thought concerning whether police ought to be in public schools to begin with. Perhaps some schools—such as those in high-crime neighborhoods of New York City—need full-time offi cers. But are those offi cers necessary in low-crime areas as well? There seems to be no discussion among educators, policy makers, the media, or the general public about whether police in schools might be a bad idea. This silence sharply diverges from the debates surrounding other school initiatives such as dress codes, school vouchers, or zero-tolerance policies. Apparently, even the New York Civil Liberties Union has accepted the idea that it is unproblematic to extend the criminal justice system into schools by placing armed, uniformed police offi cers there, so long as they are properly supervised and trained, since their very presence goes unquestioned within this otherwise scathing report.121
© 2020 Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part I. New Disciplinary Orders: Police, Surveillance, and Inequality in the Carceral School
  5. 1. To Protect, Serve, and Mentor? Police Officers in Public Schools 21
  6. 2. School Surveillance in America: Disparate and Unequal 38
  7. 3. The Docile Body in School Space 55
  8. Part II. Schools as Markets: Selling Security, Buying Students
  9. 4. Safety or Social Control? The Security Fortification of Schools in a Capitalist Society 73
  10. 5. Online Surveillance in Canadian Schools 87
  11. 6. “School Ownership Is the Goal”: Military Recruiting, Public Schools, and Fronts of War 104
  12. Part III .Security Cultures: Preparing for the Worst
  13. 7. Reading, Writing, and Readiness 123
  14. 8. Risky Youth and the Psychology of Surveillance: The Crisis of the School Shooter 140
  15. Part IV .Accountability Regimes: Tests, Standards, and Audits as Surveillance
  16. 9. “Politics by Other Means”: Education Accountability and the Surveillance State 159
  17. 10. The Measure of Success: Education, Markets, and an Audit Culture 175
  18. 11. Lying, Cheating, and Teaching to the Test: The Politics of Surveillance Under No Child Left Behind 194
  19. Part V. Everyday Resistance: Contesting Systems of Control
  20. 12. Scan This: Examining Student Resistance to School Surveillance 213
  21. 13. Seductions of Risk, Social Control, and Resistance to School Surveillance 230
  22. Contributors 247
  23. Index 253
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https://doi.org/10.36019/9780813548265-002

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part I. New Disciplinary Orders: Police, Surveillance, and Inequality in the Carceral School
  5. 1. To Protect, Serve, and Mentor? Police Officers in Public Schools 21
  6. 2. School Surveillance in America: Disparate and Unequal 38
  7. 3. The Docile Body in School Space 55
  8. Part II. Schools as Markets: Selling Security, Buying Students
  9. 4. Safety or Social Control? The Security Fortification of Schools in a Capitalist Society 73
  10. 5. Online Surveillance in Canadian Schools 87
  11. 6. “School Ownership Is the Goal”: Military Recruiting, Public Schools, and Fronts of War 104
  12. Part III .Security Cultures: Preparing for the Worst
  13. 7. Reading, Writing, and Readiness 123
  14. 8. Risky Youth and the Psychology of Surveillance: The Crisis of the School Shooter 140
  15. Part IV .Accountability Regimes: Tests, Standards, and Audits as Surveillance
  16. 9. “Politics by Other Means”: Education Accountability and the Surveillance State 159
  17. 10. The Measure of Success: Education, Markets, and an Audit Culture 175
  18. 11. Lying, Cheating, and Teaching to the Test: The Politics of Surveillance Under No Child Left Behind 194
  19. Part V. Everyday Resistance: Contesting Systems of Control
  20. 12. Scan This: Examining Student Resistance to School Surveillance 213
  21. 13. Seductions of Risk, Social Control, and Resistance to School Surveillance 230
  22. Contributors 247
  23. Index 253
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