Maple Grove, New Hope Police Pull Resource Officers Out Of Schools
In the third week of the new school year, two more northwest suburban police departments have removed school resource officers from their designated schools as uncertainty continues to swirl around new state laws that dictate which kinds of restraints officers can use when dealing with students.
New Hope Police Chief Tim Hoyt’s office issued a statement saying the department was suspending its agreement with Robbinsdale Area Schools immediately.
“It has become apparent that the need for more clarity surrounding the legislative changes has created unsustainable challenges for our SROs,” read part of the statement.
“Our department is committed to maintaining a strong relationship with District 281 while switching from on-site SROs to a patrol response for any district needs. Officers will maintain a visible presence on and near school grounds within our jurisdiction, including athletic and special events,” said Chief Hoyt in the statement.
He did not offer further comment when contacted by CCX News on Tuesday morning.
New Hope Police Chief Tim Hoyt in a previous interview with CCX News
Maple Grove Police Withdraw SROs
Maple Grove police made a similar announcement on Monday afternoon, saying the department’s five school resource officers, stationed at Osseo Middle School, Osseo Sr. High School, Maple Grove Middle School, and Maple Grove Senior High School, would be assigned to patrol duty instead and be able to respond to emergency calls at the schools.
Police Chief Eric Werner said he’d met with the officers, and they said already this school year a couple of incidents had them second-guessing what they could and could not do and it still be a legal and acceptable response.
“They questioned themselves. When you have officers making decisions–one of the most important decisions they can make–they shouldn’t be questioning themselves,” said Chief Werner in an interview on Tuesday afternoon.
“If we would have had the old rules, they would have been confident, they would have known what the expectations were and they would have been able to take action,” Werner said, echoing the sentiment of Brooklyn Park police spokesperson Elliott Faust last week after his department pulled SROs out of the city’s secondary schools.
Werner thinks there’s only one way to fix the situation.
“I don’t think it can be fixed unless there’s a legislative fix,” he said.
On Tuesday, Gov. Tim Walz did not express confidence that a special session would help bring about changes and pointed to more clarification coming from Attorney General Keith Ellison.
