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Overland Park revises school resource officer policy to limit role in school discipline
Summary
The Public Safety Committee reviewed changes to the School Resource Officer (SRO) policy aligning local practice with recent U.S. Department of Justice guidance: SROs will no longer enforce ordinary school rules, will use force or arrests only as a last resort, and training and transparency requirements were strengthened.
The Overland Park Public Safety Committee on an August night reviewed a revised School Resource Officer policy that narrows SRO responsibilities and formalizes training and transparency standards.
Captain Joshua Taylor, Overland Park Police Department, told the committee that the department updated its policy after the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services issued revised guiding principles for SRO programs in December 2024. “The principles in this document are offered as a guide to those jurisdictions that have opted to implement a school resource officer program,” Taylor said, reading from the DOJ text presented to the committee.
The police department’s changes include a firm instruction that SROs will not intervene in school-rule violations that would normally be handled by school staff, such as dress code or parking…
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