MINNEAPOLIS — When fights break out in Twin Cities high schools, if there is a school resource officer in the building, law enforcement leaders say you would expect the SRO to restrain the students.
"You'd want to deescalate that. And one of the first ways you'd deescalate that is restrain the other individual," said Imran Ali, general counsel for the Minnesota Police and Peace Officer Association. "Under this new law, the officers cannot do that."
A new law, included at the last minute in the education policy bill, "prohibits the use of the prone restraint" and "prohibits the use of compressive restraint on the head, neck, and across most of the torso."
Ali said that language is so broad that it would essentially prevent school resource officers from breaking up fights.
"So you can't grab somebody and take him and move him or her to the side. You can't do that because under the law there is a total prohibition," Ali said.
Plymouth Police Chief Erik Fadden is worried about his school resource officers wanting to continue doing the important job.
"It's setting them up for some liability or police licensing issues or excessive force claims when they are trying to use reasonable force," Fadden said.
But after the MPPOA sent out a letter to member officers asking them to "evaluate risks associated with the new law to make a choice on whether to participate in school functions."
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison followed up by offering a legal opinion to Education Commissioner Willie Jett that says "the Amendment does not limit the types of reasonable force that may be used by school staff and agents to prevent harm or death."
However, law enforcement leaders say that does not clarify other situations that don't present a threat of bodily harm or death but are clearly violations of state law.
"We're really nervous that the current way this law is written, it really hinders them and sets them up for trouble down the road," Fadden said.
They also remain upset that the amendment was added to the bill without the opportunity for debate or for stakeholders to offer guidance.
But no word yet from any departments on whether they plan to pull school resource officers from area schools.
MDE Commissioner Willie Jett released a statement that said, in part:
"The opinion by the Attorney General provides helpful clarity to schools, including to School Resource Officers, who are valuable members of our school communities. I appreciate the Attorney General’s work on this issue, and I look forward to the start of a successful new school year."
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