Edmonton police officers to return to some public schools by winter, superintendent says

Edmonton police officers could be stationed again in some city public schools by the winter 2025 semester, says Edmonton's public school superintendent.

More than four years after halting the school resource officer (SRO) program in response to student and community concerns, the school board reopened the door to school-based police last April.

Edmonton public schools superintendent Darrel Robertson told the school board at a meeting last week the division is negotiating the terms of a new arrangement with Edmonton Police Service.

"We want to make sure that the SRO program is well conceptualized," Robertson said at the Sept. 10 board meeting. "It's building off what was, but looking at some opportunities on what could be."

Depending on how long it takes to train officers, there could be up to six of them working in public schools before the end of the 2024-25 school year, he said.

Rolling out the program across the division could take several years, he said.

Police officers worked in 21 city public schools before the division halted the program in September 2020.

The school division has grappled with the issue, holding tense meetings with public presenters calling for the division to keep police in schools or remove them.

The board commissioned a $150,000 academic study, which found researchers did not have access to enough data to say whether police stationed in Edmonton schools led to more students facing charges or an earlier involvement with the criminal justice system.

However, two independent researchers found that in a decade-long period, the SRO program led to thousands of suspensions, hundreds of expulsions, and tens of thousands of students tagged as "offenders" in Edmonton schools.

Opponents of police working in schools say it can lead to children becoming unnecessarily criminalized for problems that could be dealt with by teachers, mental health professionals or social workers.

People who'd had negative interactions with SROs have told the school board the officers made them feel targeted, harassed, unwelcome and unsafe.

Some principals told the board they're ill-equipped to deal with crime in schools, such as students bringing weapons or selling drugs, and asked for police to return.

Before its demise, the SRO program cost the school board about $1.2 million each year. Police paid the other half of the cost.