TDNet Discover

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the guidelines, policies, and procedures that help to govern SROs in the United States of America as they protect stakeholders in the K-12 educational setting, through the lens of behaviorism. Incidents of mass school shootings were highlighted in this qualitative study that helped understand the responsibility of SROs and the roles they played in incidents, as it related to their procedures, practices, and the training they received. The theoretical framework selected to help guide this research was the behaviorism framework. This framework aligned directly with the proposed research study since various environmental factors played a key role in school violence and school safety. School district safety handbooks, school safety manuals, school resource officer policies, protocols, and guidelines were analyzed to answer the central research question. “What role does the school safety resource officer play in promoting safety within the school community environment”? The setting of this study was K-12 school environments in America, with a focus on SROs and their policies and practices being analyzed to gain a better understanding of their daily duties. A thorough analysis was conducted, and the findings from this study suggest potential to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of SROs nationwide. The study's results concluded that SROs play many vital roles in schools in addition to ensuring the safety and well-being of school students, as well as other stakeholders. Furthermore, understanding the policies, procedures, and guidelines helps clarify the importance of SRO presence on K-12 campuses in the United States.