An Investigation of School Resource and Safety Programs Policy and Practice in Virginia, 2016-2019 (ICPSR 37685)

Version Date: May 30, 2023

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Principal Investigator(s):
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37685.v1

Version V1

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Summary

This study seeks to inform about the effectiveness and impact of school safety programs in the state of Virginia. In many Virginia schools, ensuring school safety often involves the use of School Resource Officers (SRO) and School Security Officers (SSO), or some combination of SROs and SSOs. This study investigated the current state of SRO and SSO programs in Virginia to illuminate how SRO and SSO programs are operating and uncover best practices associated with program development, implementation, and evaluation. Specifically, the research questions were:

  • RQ1: How are SROs and SSOs trained to operate in K-12 public schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia?
  • RQ2:What are the criteria that are being used to select SROs and SSOs to operate in schools?
  • RQ3: How are the activities of SROs and SSOs that do not result in an arrest being documented?
  • RQ4: How are SROs and SSOs operating in schools supervised by their own department and/or by the school(s) in which they operate?
  • RQ5: What criteria are used to assess SRO and SSO performance?
  • RQ6: To what extent are SROs and SSOs involved addressing school disciplinary matters that do not rise to the level of criminal activity?
  • RQ7: Are there differences when comparing between school districts that have MOUs with local law enforcement, and school districts that do not have formal arrangements with local law enforcement?

Citation

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. An Investigation of School Resource and Safety Programs Policy and Practice in Virginia, 2016-2019. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2023-05-30. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37685.v1

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Funding

United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. National Institute of Justice (2016-CK-BX-0021)

Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Smallest Geographic Unit

School district

Restrictions

Access to these data is restricted. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete a Restricted Data Use Agreement, specify the reasons for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research.

Distributor(s)

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
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Time Period(s)

2016-01-01 -- 2019-12-31 (School years including 2016-2019)

Date of Collection

2016-01-01 -- 2019-12-31 (Collection encompassed 2016-2019)

Data Collection Notes

  1. Qualitative data were collected but are not included at this time.

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Study Purpose

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the SRO programs and for the assigned officers to remain aware of current trends and strategies to address any issues of concern.

Study Design

A combination of existing and new data was utilized to answer the research questions outlined above. Quantitative data collected from two existing datasets (School Safety Survey and Annual Report for Discipline, Crime and Violence) were analyzed alongside new data collected from 533 returned surveys of SROs, SSOs, SRO Supervisors, SSO Supervisors, and SRO School-Based Liaisons.

Sample

Researchers constructed and administered surveys to reach five target groups: SROs, SSOs, SRO Supervisors, SSO Supervisors, and SRO School-based Liaisons. The Safety/Security Personnel Survey collected data directly from SROs and SSOs employed in the Commonwealth. The Supervisors of Safety/Security Personnel Survey collected data directly from the school administrators and law enforcement agents who hire, supervise, and evaluate SROs and SSOs. Each potential participant received an email invitation directly from Qualtrics. Non-responders received two reminders thereafter.

Time Method

Cross-sectional

Universe

School Resource Officers, School Security Officers, School Leaders, Law Enforcement personnel, in Virginia.

Unit(s) of Observation

Organization, Individual

Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection

Description of Variables

The study includes five datasets and a total of 408 variables. Each of the five data files asks the respondent to describe their educational background and training experiences for their position, how they spend their time on the job, about child abuse and neglect in school, how they deal with children with special needs, who they interact with, training topics they feel they should be getting, and how they feel about their job.

The datasets also included additional demographic variables such as age, gender, ethnicity, and race of the participants. Please refer to the accompanying User Guide for further information.

Response Rates

Investigators invited 700 SROs, 136 SRO Law Enforcement Supervisors, and 93 SRO School-Based Liaisons to partake in the online surveys. Invitations were also sent to 600 SSOs and 57 SSO Supervisors. Eventually, 202 SROs (28.9%), 54 SRO Supervisors (39.7%), 40 SRO Liaisons (43.0%), and 108 SSOs (18.0%) completed the surveys. Unfortunately, only 8 SSO Supervisors (14.0%) participated in the survey. In each file additional participants started the survey but did not complete it. Please refer to the variable PROGRESS in each file to see who started and who completed the survey.

Presence of Common Scales

Respondents were asked several questions using a 5-point agree / disagree scale.

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Original Release Date

2023-05-30

Version History

2023-05-30 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

  • Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.

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Weight

Not applicable

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Notes

  • The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.

  • ICPSR usually offers files in multiple formats for researchers to be able to access data and documentation in formats that work well within their needs. If you have questions about the accessibility of materials distributed by ICPSR or require further assistance, please visit ICPSR’s Accessibility Center.

  • One or more files in this data collection have special restrictions. Restricted data files are not available for direct download from the website; click on the Restricted Data button to learn more.