Despite statewide changes, Rochester Police Department to maintain presence in city's schools

Aug. 29—ROCHESTER — Despite a

recent statewide change impacting how officers can enforce student behavior,

Rochester Public Schools is maintaining its relationship with the city's police department regarding the use of school resource officers.

This year, Minnesota enacted legislation restricting officers from restraining students except in cases that involve the threat of bodily harm. Because of that change, law enforcement agencies throughout the state have started re-evaluating their work in the schools or pulling out altogether.

That has not been the case in Rochester.

"We are very, very focused on keeping discipline separate from law enforcement actions," RPS Superintendent Kent Pekel said. "We have SROs quite far away from physical contact with students unless we are in a situation where there is a serious threat to safety."

Rochester Police Department spokeswoman Amanda Grayson said the department does not plan to pull its officers from the city's school system of more than 17,000 students.

Although officers have had a presence in Rochester's schools for decades, the concept has been the focus of heightened attention in recent years. The Rochester School Board has set up separate study sessions and spent hours during school board meetings scrutinizing every detail of the police department's activity within the district.

Recently, that process included consulting with

national experts on alternative options

to resource officers, and contracting with a doctoral student at the University of Minnesota to dig into the

available research on the topic.

Part of that intense, ongoing conversation between the two organizations has focused on making sure officers do not get involved in issues of discipline.

"We basically reaffirmed where we've been," Pekel said about a conversation he had with RPD Chief Jim Franklin in the wake of the new legislation.

Similar to the status in Rochester, the relationship between school districts and law enforcement agencies in surrounding communities will continue as well.

"We are not changing our practices and will still have an SRO in Byron and in Eyota," Capt. Tim Parkin with the Olmsted County Sheriff's office said. "There has been no discussion at this time of taking over coverage for anyone else."

Parkin added that the sheriff's office has a "positive and open relationship" with the schools it works with.

"We continue to teach DARE in Byron and Eyota (and Stewartville, even though they do not have an SRO program)," Parkin said. "This allows our office to create a positive relationship with students and for the students to meet deputies in a comfortable environment. Further, our SROs work many school events, such as sporting events and dances, further creating positive relationships with students and faculty throughout the school year."

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison issued an opinion Aug. 22, clarifying the legislation. According to his office, "that opinion clarifies that the amendments do not limit the types of force that may be used by school employees and agents to prevent bodily harm or death, but retain the instruction that force must be 'reasonable' in those situations."

Despite that clarification, the change has resulted in a separation between some law enforcement agencies and school districts. The police department of Moorhead announced it would

pull officers

from the city's schools in the wake of the new legislation. Similar decisions have been made in Andover and Red Wood Falls.

The topic has also been

on the radar

for other communities, such as Alexandria.

RPS is deepening its relationship with the police department. School officials

recently announced that they would be adding a sixth resource officer.

One of the arguments repeatedly cited for having school resource officers is the fact that those officers are more familiar with school environments than random patrol officers responding from the street would be if called in response to an incident.

Pekel reiterated that.

"The department assigns them, but they are very, very attentive to who we think we need to have in our schools," Pekel said about the selection of SROs. "That's a big deal. Because you really want to make sure you have specific officers who are good with kids. Who are good with school cultures. Who are good with educators. Who don't want to be the muscle inside a school."