In a nation torn apart by school shootings, the question remains: Is what’s being done to combat the violence effective? On Nov. 3, a local parent shared an alarming post from an anonymous user on social media threatening the Morenci Unified School District.

The second part of this article, the author discusses SRO oversight and a new report from Strategies for Youth has found less than half of states have legislation requiring SRO training with even fewer requiring de-escalation training or adolescent development training.

While the federal government has spent close to $1 billion to deploy police in our nation’s public schools, it remains “unclear how effective” the School Resource Officers (SROs) are in preventing the school tragedies that have rocked the nation for 20 years–tragedies that are used as a justification for their deployment, according to a new study from the nonprofit group Strategies for Youth (SFY).

Strategies for Youth provided peer review for this 2019 report issued by the Cutler Institute at the University of Southern Maine. SFY reports are also cited as source material for the study.

Lisa Thurau from SFY discusses the number of children arrested across the country on KNX 1070 Newsradio in Los Angeles.

The recent arrests of two 6-year-old students in Orlando, which prompted outrage and the firing of the officer who restrained one child’s hands with flex cuffs, mirrors a persistent problem confronting law enforcement and schools with thousands of children arrested annually and treated like “mini-adults,” experts said.

A police officer kneels down face to face with a child. “I’m sorry I stole,” the child cries. “It’s OK. Just don’t do it again,” the officer replies. In another scene, a child looks upward to the officer…

It’s a new spin on a classic American game show, “Jeopardy!” But Juvenile Justice Jeopardy could end up saving lives. A new program is educating teens about the justice system and improving their relationship with police.

Omaha Police and Strategies For Youth teamed up with the Boys & Girls Club in South Omaha for Juvenile Justice Jeopardy on Tuesday.

Police officers encounter a variety of situations throughout the day and training for the wide range of circumstances is a never-ending job. Recently, statistics have shown that there may be specific reasons teens are a portion of the population that can begin with a calm situation that escalates quickly.