Minnesota Republicans Run into DFL Roadblock in Attempt to Fast-Track Passage of School Resource Officers Fix

SRO Class

Republicans in the Minnesota House of Representatives wasted no time in the opening moments of the 2024 legislative session in attempting to fast-track passage of a seemingly bipartisan proposal to fix a new law enacted last year that has hampered the work of school resource officers in several public schools across the state.

But the author of that bill ended up being the GOP’s biggest stumbling block in attempting to pass it on the House floor Monday.

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Police Leaders Say ‘Legislative Fix’ Only Way to Resolve SRO Issue after Moriarty letter

The state’s largest police association sent a letter to its members last week saying a “legislative fix” is the only way to address concerns with a new law impacting school resource officers (SROs).

This comes after Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty sent a letter Wednesday to the police chiefs in her county that reignited confusion with the new law.

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Police Chiefs, Lawmakers Explain Issues with New SRO Law

Center of the American Experiment hosted a panel discussion with police chiefs and state representatives last week to discuss the ongoing controversy surrounding a new law impacting school resource officers (SROs).

The law prohibits SROs in cases where there is no threat of bodily harm or death from using the prone restraint or any force that “places pressure or weight on a pupil’s head, throat, neck, chest, lungs, sternum, diaphragm, back, or abdomen.”

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Minnesota Gov. Walz Open to Special Session to Fix New Law Impacting School Resource Officers

While students across the state are now back in class, the list of secondary schools that will begin the year without a school resource officer continues to grow.

On Monday the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office announced it will pull its officers it has contracted as SROs from six schools in the east metro. Well more than a dozen law enforcement agencies across the state have now pulled their SROs from school campuses in the wake of a new law they say the legislature needs to fix so their officers can safely do their jobs.

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New Kentucky Law Expands Definitions Related to the Use of School Resource Officers

Kentucky lawmakers hope they have already have taken steps that can help avoid a tragedy such as took place in Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday.

On Friday of last week, legislation was signed into law allowing parochial and other private schools to develop pacts with local law enforcement agencies or the Kentucky State Police to have school resource officers on their campuses. House Bill 540, sponsored by state Rep. Killian Timoney, R-Nicholasville, was signed by Gov. Andy Beshear.

In Tennessee on Monday, a shooting at Christian elementary school left three children, three adults and the shooter dead.

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