x
Breaking News
More () »

BESE pushing for school resource officers at every school

BESE members unanimously passed resolutions urging public schools to partner with local law enforcement to provide a school resource officers.

NEW ORLEANS — In response to school shootings nationwide, the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) is looking for ways to increase safety. 

The board wants school resource officers in every public school in the state.

Three adults and three children were killed last week in a shooting at a Christian school in Nashville. Three days later, in Northwest Louisiana, a student threatened to kill a teacher then left and returned to campus with a loaded gun, according to the Caddo Parish Sheriff's Office. 

According to police, a school resource officer stopped him from reentering the school. Michael Melerine, a member of BESE, said those two incidents urged him to push for more school resource officers.

"For me, knowing last week what happened and the benefit they provided, I wanted to do something to try to ensure there was one on every campus," Melerine said.

This week, BESE members unanimously passed resolutions that would urge public schools K-12 to partner with local law enforcement to provide a school resource officer, or SRO, on every campus. A resolution asks the state legislature to provide funding. Melerine isn't sure how much it would cost or whether the funding would come from local taxes or state revenue.

LSU Health criminologist Dr. Peter Scharf has studied school shootings and said research is mixed on how SROs impact schools.

"The research I've read suggests they are not effective in actually eliminating, mitigating reducing these kinds of events," Scharf said. "It's not enough. It's a band aid on a gushing wound."

According to a 2022 survey two-thirds of Louisiana schools already have a SRO.

"If they can stop one incident like last week, that's enough," Melerine said.

Louisiana Revised Statute 17:416.9 provides that any city, parish, local public school system, or nonpublic school may enter into agreements with local law enforcement agencies to provide for school resource officers. BESE’s resolution would require officers to be certified by a nationally accredited school resource officer program or a state training program certified by the Council on Peace Officer Standards and Training. The Board also requested that school systems annually report the total number of school resource officers to the Louisiana Department of Education.

Click here to report a typo.

► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.

Before You Leave, Check This Out