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Home My WebLink About2022-0707 CityClerk From:CityClerk Sent:Monday, August 15, 2022 5:45 PM To:Bolinger, Bonnie; Pennington, Blake; Brown, Chris; Bunch, Sarah; CityClerk; Curth, Jonathan; Harvey, Sonia; Hertzberg, Holly; Batker, Jodi; Jones, D'Andre; Kelley, Courtney; Kinion, Mark; Johnson, Kimberly; Rogers, Kristin; Williams, Kit; Jordan, Lioneld; Mathis, Jeana; Paxton, Kara; Mulford, Patti; Rea, Christine; Scroggin, Sloan; Norton, Susan; Thurber, Lisa; Turk, Teresa; Wiederkehr, Mike Cc:arkansasjusticereform@gmail.com Subject:FW: City Council Session 08/16, Item C.5 School Resource Officers: Investment Needed, SROs are not the Answer: 2022-0707 Attachments:Investment Needed, SROs are not the Answer-3.pdf Hello, This comment will be archived on the City of Fayetteville's website under the Agenda Public Comments for the City Council meeting date that your comment corresponds with. This comment will not be displayed in the agenda item packet. 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Mountain Street, Suite 308 Fayetteville, AR 72701 479.575.8323 cityclerk@fayetteville-ar.gov Website | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube From: Arkansas Justice <arkansasjusticereform@gmail.com> Sent: Monday, August 15, 2022 11:32 AM To: Mayor <Mayor@fayetteville-ar.gov>; Norton, Susan <snorton@fayetteville-ar.gov>; Harvey, Sonia <sonia.harvey@fayetteville-ar.gov>; Jones, D'Andre <dandre.jones@fayetteville-ar.gov>; Kinion, Mark <mark.kinion@fayetteville-ar.gov>; Wiederkehr, Mike <mike.wiederkehr@fayetteville-ar.gov>; Scroggin, Sloan <sloan.scroggin@fayetteville-ar.gov>; Bunch, Sarah <sarah.bunch@fayetteville-ar.gov>; Turk, Teresa <teresa.turk@fayetteville-ar.gov>; Hertzberg, Holly <holly.hertzberg@fayetteville-ar.gov>; nikatwaits@gmail.com; meganforfayetteville@gmail.com; hudsonfayar@sbcglobal.net; rjeichmann@gmail.com; osborne.katrina.m@gmail.com; traceypomeroy20@gmail.com; keatonforfayetteville@gmail.com; joy.shirley@g.fayar.net; kristina.hudson@g.fayar.net; Megan Duncan <megan.duncan@g.fayar.net>; tammy.tucker@g.fayar.net; holly.johnson@g.fayar.net; JOHNL.COLBERT@fayar.net 1 Cc: Paxton, Kara <kapaxton@fayetteville-ar.gov> Subject: City Council Session 08/16, Item C.5 School Resource Officers: Investment Needed, SROs are not the Answer CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the City of Fayetteville. 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Monday, August 15, 2022 To: Fayetteville City Council, Mayor Jordan & staff, Dr Colbert and staff, & Fayetteville School Board Re: City Council Session 08/16, Item C.5 School Resource Officers: Investment Needed, SROs are not the Answer What we are asking for:    Full  set of possible solutions that have come forward from the city and school’s joint safety & mental health task force  o o o Understanding o of the financial and implementation needs o o o o Let o the public have input through similar means of master plans, corridor projects to weigh in on each finding o    No  SRO expansion at this time until expectations are fully understood by all parties and public accounting in place     Public  facing dashboard showing the arrests/citations of SROs/FPD on Fayetteville schools property ongoing similar to weekly police report  https://www.fayetteville-ar.gov/3797/Weekly-Summary-Reports 2     Investment  from the city & district on additional school counselors and social workers. The American School Counselor Association recommends a 250 to 1 ratio not in place in FPS today. The National Association of Social Workers recommends a 250 to 1 ratio not in place  today in FPS and a 1 to 50 in intensive need areas.  In August 2020, during City Council meetings concerning a grant for additional SROs, the 2018. School Safety task force was listed as reasoning for asking for the expansion of police in the Fayetteville Public School System. During that discussion, concerns were raised about the harms that had been caused in the student body by policing over other more appropriate responses to the student body. This was proven out by the data the community requested of FPD and compiled of the arrests happening at FPS and brought to light the lack of ongoing monitoring that the district or FPD had been undertaking to understand the impact the SRO program was having. At this same council meeting, some council members mentioned that other investments like social workers from the city might be better alternatives, but nothing has been put in place to date. Following the August 2020 council meeting where the SROs were voted down, there was a mental health & safety task force that was formed to address some of the concerns raised during the August 2020 discussion. These meetings have been taking place, but there has been nothing publicly stated as the outcome of these conversations. And, at no time has the public been invited to workshop on solutions for creating greater safety. Those past meetings can be located here: https://sites.google.com/g.fayar.net/jointtaskforce/home?authuser=0 If this task force was going to be bringing forward possible solutions, why is the community not hearing from it on a regular basis? Why would their possible conclusions and next steps not be publicly known before bringing forward the same policing solution as in 2020? The current Governor’s Task Force was reconvened and made up of the same set of individuals as in 2018, primarily consisting of law enforcement. This Task Force has called for more guns in every school building, but no data or statistics have been provided to the community to support this finding. On the other hand, there is a growing body of evidence that law enforcement, guns, and hardening measures are having detrimental effects on children. This research shows that by having armed officers in our schools, we are making all children pay an unbearable cost both in racially biased arrest/citation of our school children and the increased fear and anxiety that the school body faces with armed law enforcement present. There are so many things that we want to invest in as a community, shouldn't we vet all the possible solutions to safety before moving forward? 3 APPROPRIATE STAFFING According to the Bazelon Center in a 2021 study, "Replacing School Police With Services that Work", they report - " ninety percent of students attend public schools where the number of social workers, psychologists, and counselors fall short of recommended standards. More than fourteen million students attend schools with police, but no social worker, psychologist, or counselor. Police “have taken the place of other critical school staff.” "    While  each building at FPS has a counselor, all buildings do not have social workers, behavioral interventionists, aides, or extra hands as teachers need. There are no psychologists.  HIGHER LIKELIHOOD OF HARM WITH MORE GUNS ON CAMPUS https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2776515?utm_source=For_The_Media &utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_term=021621 A research letter from JAMA stated "The well-documented weapons effect explains that the presence of a weapon increases aggression. Whenever firearms are present, there is room for error, and even highly trained officers get split-second decisions wrong. Prior research suggests that many school shooters are actively suicidal, intending to die in the act, so an armed officer may be an incentive rather than a deterrent. The majority of shooters who target schools are students of the school, calling into question the effectiveness of hardened security and active shooter drills. Instead, schools must invest in resources to prevent shootings before they occur." DOES NOT PREVENT SCHOOL SHOOTINGS https://www.edworkingpapers.com/sites/default/files/ai21-476.pdf “We find that SROs do effectively reduce some forms of violence in schools, but do not prevent school shootings or gun-related incidents. We also find that SROs intensify the use of suspensions, expulsions, police referrals, and arrests of students. These effects are consistently over two times larger for Black students than White students. Finally, we observe that SROs increase chronic absenteeism, particularly for students with disabilities.” DOES NOT IMPROVE SAFETY In a Feb 2022 National Institute of Justice Report Entitled " FY 2021 Report to the Committees on Appropriations: Research on School Resource Officer Programs" the findings were "The research evidence does not, as a whole, yield support for school policing as an effective strategy to improve safety and security." https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/304291.pdf The American Journal of Criminal Justice Sept 2012 report " Students and Perceived School Safety: The Impact of School Security Measures" found that metal detectors and the number of visible security measures employed in school were associated with a decrease in student reports of feeling safe. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12103-012-9182-2?noAccess=true 4 FUNDING YOUTH PROGRAMS Vera Institute of Justice 2021 report "Creating Supportive School Environments" https://www.vera.org/downloads/publications/alternatives-to-policing-school-safety-fact- sheet.pdf Fund after-school and youth development programs, which are proven to improve educational and employment outcomes and reduce crime. After- school programs provide a substantial return on investment, in part by reducing childcare costs for working families and improving the school performance of students. As one study in California found, for every $1 spent on programs, schools and families saved between $8.92 and $12.90. These savings come from a reduction in school personnel time spent on behavioral needs and the avoidance of childcare expenditures, and by preventing lost wages when parents have to disrupt work to address their children’s behavioral needs.A review of summer youth employment programs in Chicago found that SYEPs reduced violent crime substantially, with between $5 and $30 in savings related to crime reduction for every $1 spent on these programs. FUND SUPPORT FOR FAMILIES Restore Hope program model https://www.restorehopear.org - wraparound support for vulnerable identified families struggling(voluntary) in the community. Connection by a peer specialist to gain greater food and housing security, help through court involvement, work to reunify families with children in DHS care. Look at Restore Hope AR latest annual report Potential investment need for Fayetteville specific - 3 case managers at $60,000 each plus benefits for $300,000. Case managers would handle a target of 20-30 families each. Programming needs for services identified as being needed (recovery services, mental health/therapy) + needs for success identified (childcare, transportation to and from needed appointments, job training) of $200k. Focus on HHs with children that will enter or are in the FPS system. Total yearly investment of $500,000 CITY/COMMUNITY INVESTMENT Anti-Violence Program Response: In lieu of police and to empower the community to create community safety    Community  violence interruption - $60,000 per head count, start with 2 at $120,000 yearly  Access Highest Risk – Workers utilize their trust with high-risk community members (voluntary) to establish contact, develop relationships, and begin to work with the people most likely to be involved in violence. Change Behaviors – Workers engage with high-risk community members to convince them to reject the use of violence by discussing the cost and consequences of violence and teaching alternative responses to situations. Provide Treatment – Workers develop a caseload of clients who they work with intensively – seeing clients several times a week and assisting with their needs such as drug treatment, employment, leaving gangs or friend groups that contributed. LOOK AT THESE GROUPS   5  Advance  Peace https://www.advancepeace.org     Cure  Violence https://cvg.org  So what do we do next? Let's talk openly as a community about all of the possible solutions to create safety. Let's choose based on evidence and data over fear. We can do better for our children and their futures. The community is behind you to not expand any guns in schools and to instead look at other possible safety investments. We are committed to doing this work with you. In Community, Arkansas Justice Reform Coalition 6