A Critical Analysis of the ECSD SRO Program Review
Our critical analysis is extensive. As a result, two documents were created - a summary and the full critical analysis.
You can view the 10 page summary by clicking here
You can view the full critical analysis by clicking here
We also welcome you to read the conclusion of our critical analysis prior to viewing our full work.
Conclusions From Our Analysis
Our analysis in the full report of the data collected concludes that the evidence for keeping the SRO Program is not very strong. We also feel that the Edmonton Catholic School District SRO Program Review is a missed opportunity to apply an equity perspective to the analysis of Police in Schools Programs as well as a missed opportunity to substantively and authentically engage with important current conversations around the range of ways communities, including schools, seek to create caring, healthy, and equitable education cultures and institutions.
The study does not provide much new information beyond feelings participants have about SROs and what they accomplish, including outcomes like "relationship-building" that are not only undefined, but whose link to student learning and well-being are unexplored.
A large number of participants admit they do not have enough information or knowledge to make clear judgements about key aspects of the SRO Program.
The implications of race and racism remain poorly researched, examined, and/or avoided despite being one of the primary experiences from which interrogation of Police in Schools programs has come.
The researchers do not explore disability as a variable in the Review, despite evidence in the research literature that SROs and policing negatively affect disabled youth. Disabled children and youth are already greatly underserved within Alberta's public education system. Having Police in Schools Programs will only exacerbate these issues.
The SRO Program was studied in a manner disconnected from other aspects of education and schooling.
Most things that people emphasize as important roles the SROs play could be done by someone else.
There is no discussion of non-carceral alternatives or presentation of alternatives to those who participated in the study. From the design of the questions through to the recommendations, the terrain of possibility is circumscribed to a focus on more or less, better or worse policing.
Detasking the police by reinvesting in the hiring of alternative personnel and implementation of holistic, alternative programs were not taken into consideration at all. At this stage of the conversation, any research not exploring these is not paying attention to key voices in the conversation that exist across Canada.
We want a school system where no students are criminalized. We will not settle for relegating the perspectives of the "few" "minority" students to the dustbin of a "majority" white, cis-hetero, ableist school culture.
We acknowledge that data collection, collation, and presentation by the researchers and the sharing of experiences by participants constituted a substantial amount of work and time. However, we believe the results illustrate a larger problem with the practice and intent of institutional reviews of police in schools programs.