Mounds View PD suspends SRO

[admin]

Mounds View Police Department
2401 Mounds View Blvd
Mounds View, MN 55112
763 717-4070
9-1-2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

I wanted to take this opportunity to address the residents of Mounds View and the staff and students at Edgewood Middle School, Pinewood Elementary School, and the Mounds View Bridges Program.

Recently, the Minnesota Legislature made changes to MN State Statute 121A.58 and 121A. 582 adding School Resource Officers (SOs) as agents of the school district. In my opinion, these new changes prohibit our SRO to effectively, efficiently, and safely address incidents that occur in the school. The SRO is the first officer on the scene in a school setting to de-escalate or intervene in an incident, and this new law has created a lot of ambiguity and confusion for the SO when using force. Minnesota State Statute 609.06 already provides clear guidance on police officer use of force, and the statute was already amended to prohibit chokeholds and some other restraints. This new law sets two different standards for the use of force thus creating confusion and is simply not necessary.

The Mounds View Police Department strongly belleves in building relationships and partnerships with the Mounds View School District, students, and staff. The SRO bridges the gap between the youth and the police department, and I understand the critical role an SRO plays in a school setting. SOs are professional police officers who are experts in the field of communication, de-escalation, and conflict resolution, but there are also instances when an SO needs to use force. There should be clear guidance when applied, and this law does not do that. Over the past couple weeks, there have been numerous opinions and interpretations of this new law. Again, this creates ambiguity and confusion for the SRO when using force.

Given the new legislation enacted by the Governor and the State Legislature, I have consulted with Mounds View leadership as well as legal counsel, and I have made the decision not to sign a contract with the Mounds View School District to provide an SRO at Edgewood Middle School, Pinewood Elementary School, and the Mounds View Bridges Program.

As the Chief of Police, I cannot put our SRO in a compromising situation where they are not able to use their discretion, judgment, and professional police training in dealing with dangerous incidents on school property. I am responsible for making sure the MVPD has the necessary training, equipment, and guidance in order to provide the best possible police services to the Mounds View community. Given this new law, I believe it would be irresponsible of me to put our SRO in that situation and set our SRO up for failure. I also cannot subject our SRO to the potential of civil or criminal liability. I want to let you know that I am not alone with this decision. There have been numerous reports of police departments and sheriffs' offices who have removed their SRO out of the school due to this new law. The reason I waited this long to make this decision was to make sure I had all the available information in order to make an informed decision and was hoping that the Governor or State Legislature would have resolved this issue before the start of school.
With all this said, there is a solution to this problem. I ask that you reach out to your local elected officials as well as the Governor's office and encourage them to call for a special session to fix this law so SROs can return to the schools. I'd like to thank the Mounds View community for all their support, and I ask for your patience while we navigate through this issue. I will continue to monitor this situation closely, and I look forward to having our SOs back in schools.

Ben Zender
Chief of Police