Minnesota is poised to give school resource officers clearer authority to use force

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota lawmakers are on the verge of a compromise that will give police officers who work in schools clearer authority to use force. The Minnesota House voted 124-8 Monday to pass a change backed by law enforcement that’s meant to ensure that school resource officers can use prone restraints on students, although school staff would remain banned from doing so. Groups representing the state’s police chiefs, sheriffs and rank-and-file officers endorsed the compromise language in a letter to lawmakers last week, saying they “feel a sense of urgency to resolve this issue so the SRO’s who are not currently in Schools can return as quickly as possible.” The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association listed at least 41 school districts that had lost their officers as of last fall. Minnesota school districts aren’t required to have school resource officers and most didn’t, even before Floyd’s murder put Minnesota in the international spotlight and forced a reckoning on racism and police brutality. But it’s hard to put a number on how many school systems across the country made changes after Floyd’s death, said Mac Hardy, director of operations for the National Association of School Resource Officers.