Minnesota law agencies ending school resource officer programs

A new Minnesota law restricts authorities' use of restraints on students
Advocates: Law doesn’t limit the use of force to prevent injury or death
Critics: Language could limit SRO’s ability to respond to dangerous conduct

Updated: Aug 30, 2023 / 01:40 PM CDT

Mid adult Caucasian security officer talks with elementary age Caucasian private or charter school male student. The officer gestures while talking to the boy. The boy’s teacher is standing next to him.

(NewsNation) — Some law enforcement agencies across Minnesota are ending their partnerships with school districts due to a new state law prohibiting certain types of restraint that can be used on students.

Clay and Hennepin County sheriffs, along with Coon Rapids police on Tuesday, announced they’d pull their school resource officer (SRO) programs from local schools.

“When school starts next week, Coon Rapids Police will not have SROs working inside Anoka-Hennepin Schools,” according to a Facebook post attributed to Chief Bill Steiner.

The moves come after Anoka and St. Louis counties, along with Moorhead Police, said they’d remove SROs, per MPR News.

Lawmakers approved part of a broader education bill early this year. The new language seeks to ban school employees and agents from holding students face down in a “prone” position or via a “comprehensive restraint on the head, neck, and across most of the torso.”

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have called for executive action to rewrite or clarify the bill. They also said it could lead to lawsuits against those who do intervene.

“If they’re acting as an agent of a school, the new legislative changes puts them in a position where in all practicality they have to remain hands-free,” Jeff Potts, executive director of the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association, told the Star Tribune.

However, Gov. Tim Walz supported the change and said there are “exceptions for (the) health and safety of students and the officers.”

Attorney General Keith Ellison issued a legal opinion stating that the new language does not limit the use of force to prevent injury or death, as long as that force is “reasonable.”