Brooklyn Park police suspends its school resource officer program
BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. — The Brooklyn Park Police Department is joining a growing list of Minnesota law enforcement agencies that are pulling officers from schools in the aftermath of a controversial law passed this year by the Minnesota Legislature.
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BPPD announced Thursday that it has made the "difficult decision" to suspend its school resource officer (SRO) program this school year.
At the start of the 2023-2024 school year, BPPD had been the lone agency to continue partnering with Anoka-Hennepin Schools, which lost the participation of the Anoka County Sheriff's Office, and the municipal police departments of Blaine, Champlin, and Coon Rapids.
The new state law — which prohibits officers and school staff from using certain physical holds on students unless they're deemed a threat to themselves and others — has led several departments to pull officers due to the threats of expensive lawsuits and possible criminal charges brought against officers or deputies who get into altercations with students.
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BPPD says it made the move to pull SROs after they had "encountered a series of challenging incidents."
"While our dedicated SROs have consistently displayed professionalism and dedication in responding to these incidents, it has become evident that the lack of clarity surrounding the recent changes in the law has created an untenable and unsustainable working environment for them," department officials said.
BPPD says it will reassign SROs to patrol duties around schools, and they will be able to quickly mobilize and report to a school for assistance if need be.
NOTE: The video above is from Sept. 13, 2023.
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