Leading the Line: Supervising SROs in Arkansas Schools

Supervising School Resource Officers means leading officers who work where law enforcement and education meet. This course prepares supervisors and command staff to lead school-based policing programs with confidence. It is designed for leaders in institutional police departments operated by school districts or educational institutions, and for supervisors who oversee SROs assigned to schools by municipal police departments or sheriff’s offices. Participants from both settings will look at their shared responsibilities and at how their authority, reporting lines, and working relationships with schools differ.

The course starts with the foundations of an effective program: the agencies involved, Arkansas’s SRO laws and regulations, and how MOUs, institutional policy, chain of command, and shared governance define roles and accountability. Participants look at supervisory identity, ethics, legitimacy, and the role conflicts that come with serving both a law enforcement mission and an educational one. From there, the course follows the full personnel cycle: selecting and assigning officers, onboarding, probationary supervision, performance standards, observation and evaluation, documentation, coaching and counseling, and corrective action and discipline. It also covers officer wellness and burnout.

The course then turns to the operational and legal areas that carry the most risk. Participants learn how to supervise searches, seizures, interviews, and school investigations, and review juvenile rights, student records, mandatory reporting, and information sharing. Topics include use of force, restraints, internal review, and risk control, as well as emergency operations, the Incident Command System, unified command, family reunification, and behavioral threat assessment, including warning behaviors, intelligence, and privacy. Participants also study critical-incident supervision from response through recovery: command, communications, accountability, after-action review, evidence and reporting, and coordination with families and the media.