BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — At least three additional law enforcement agencies have announced they'll remove their resource officers from schools this fall.
Coon Rapids Police Chief Bill Steiner said Tuesday the department's SROs will no longer serve the Anoka-Hennepin Public School District. The Clay County Sheriff's Office is also pulling its SRO from two districts, and the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office says it will remove its officer from Rockford High School.
This comes days after the Anoka County Sheriff's Office and Moorhead police announced stoppages of their SRO programming as well.
The various departments cite recent changes to school discipline laws statewide, which prohibit SROs from using certain physical holds including the prone restraint.
"In an ideal world, there would never be a need for SROs to use physical restraint in the school environment," Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt said in a press release. "But when the need to respond to a serious incident arises, they need to know that they will not be held liable for appropriately fulfilling that duty."
The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association called the new laws "ambiguous and unclear."
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison says the changes don't limit an SRO's use of force if it was used to prevent bodily harm or death.
While some police departments are pulling out of schools, others are staying. Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges says SROs will remain in all five schools they serve.
"The reason why for me is simple," said Hodges, a former SRO. "I couldn't stomach something happening in one of these schools and our cops weren't in there because of this backdoor legislation.
"Yeah, we're going to abide by the new changes but understand me when I say this — and I've told my school liaison officers this — I've got their back 100 percent. I do not agree with this law and if something, if they have to, I expect them to continue to do their job and I have their back 100 percent."
An Edina city spokesperson confirmed the Edina Police Department is continuing with its SRO program, too.
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