Last Tuesday I found myself in a meeting with fellow parents concerned about the misogynistic death threats posted online by a group of male students. The collective worry was not only for female students’ safety but also the belief that the district had failed to effectively communicate and respond to the incident. The main issue that brought me to the meeting was the proposed remedy for increasing student safety: placing an armed officer on the campus of San Marcos High School.
Reacting to the threat, most parents present supported an armed school resource officer (SRO) on campus; they were perhaps unaware of the research that shows campus police do not increase student safety. I was unsurprised to see that those parents were majority white or folks who could pass as white. It was also unsurprising that the only parents in the room against the idea were parents of color. Police violence, especially shootings, against people of color that make headlines and populate social media should make it unnecessary to explain why opinions about police and safety tend to be divided along color lines.
One officer spoke to the parents for several minutes to familiarize them with his job as an SRO. At the end, I raised my hand to ask: “Can you please describe your training in implicit bias?” He answered with details of his credentials, none of which included bias training. I clarified: “I’m interested in knowing about your training specifically around implicit bias.” His response: “I am unfamiliar with what that is.”