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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 12:43 am
Time: 12:43 am
Results for school resource officers (toronto)
1 results foundAuthor: Toronto Police Title: School Resource Officer Program: 2008/2009 Evaluation Summary: The evaluation of the School Resource Officer Program focussed on measuring related perceptions of students, teachers/administrators, parents and SROs in those schools where a School Resource Officer was assigned. Over 11,500 surveys were distributed in October 2008 and again in May 2009. The surveys were designed to benchmark and measure changes in perception of safety in and around the schools, relations with police, student comfort with and willingness to report crime and victimization to the police, and overall value of the program. The evaluation also included an analysis of crimes and victimization in and around the schools, and a review of the activities of the School Resource Officers. The evaluation found that most students felt safe at school and in the neighbourhood around the school before (October 2008) and after (May 2009) the SRO program. Students who spoke informally to their SRO officer during the school year, and those who thought an SRO was a good idea were more likely to say they felt safe in school, while students who thought the program was a bad idea were more likely to say they did not feel safe. Student opinion of the SRO program did not have a significant effect on their perception of safety in the neighbourhood around the school. With regard to student comfort with the police, there was an increase in reporting by students who had been a victim of crime, but no similar increase in reporting to police when students had witnessed a crime. Students who informally talked to the SRO and students who approached the SRO to talk about a problem were more likely to report being the victim of a crime or having witnessed a crime. The frequency with which students approached the SRO to talk about a problem did not affect their willingness to report. Students who thought the SRO was a good idea were more likely to report victimization, while those students who thought the SRO was a bad idea were more likely to report a crime they had witnessed. The perceived relationships between students and police improved during the school year. The proportion of students who felt the relationship between police and students was good or excellent, increased from 56% to 67%; those who thought the relationship was excellent almost doubled over the school year. Almost half of the students at the beginning of the year said they wanted the SRO to make presentations at the school, and when an SRO coached a sports team or headed-up an extra curricular activity, most students believed that it was a very good/okay idea. Most administrators and teachers felt safe at school and in the neighbourhood around the school both before and after the SRO program. Similar to the students, the proportion of administrators/teachers who believed that the relationship between police and students in their school was good or excellent increased during the school year; those who believed the relationship between police and students was excellent almost doubled. Although most parents, in both October and May, were more likely to feel their child was ‘reasonably’ rather than ‘very’ safe, their perception of their child’s safety at school improved over the year. Parents at the beginning and end of the school year felt positively about having an SRO assigned to their child’s school; over 90% in October 2008 and May 2009 said it was a very good or okay idea, while only 2% said it was a bad idea. School Resource Officers felt more a part of the school management team at the end of the school year than at the start; they also felt that conditions involving supportive/positive relationships with the school administration and/or teachers were important for performing their SRO duties. The SROs identified a number of challenges to performing their duties (e.g. unwelcoming or isolated office space, lack of information, and issues related to transportation). By the end of the school year, most SROs felt that students were comfortable with them. In 2008/09 there were decreases in reported offences both on school grounds and within 200 metres of the school, over all the times that were examined. Overall, the evaluation finds that the School Resource Officer program demonstrated a number of positive effects on schools and students, particularly those students who had interacted with the SROs. The SRO program has the potential to be increasingly beneficial to crime prevention, crime reporting and relationship building, in the schools and in surrounding neighbourhoods. Details: Toronto: Toronto Police, 2009. 35p. Source: Internet Resource: accessed March 10, 2011 at: http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/publications/files/reports/2008,2009-sro_evaluation_program.pdf Year: 2009 Country: Canada URL: http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/publications/files/reports/2008,2009-sro_evaluation_program.pdf Shelf Number: 120966 Keywords: PolicingSchool CrimeSchool Resource Officers (Toronto)School Safety |