Multiple Minnesota police departments have removed their officers from school campuses over concerns with a new state law that limits what kind of restraining methods the in-school officers can use on students.
The Anoka and Coon Rapids police departments announced they have taken their officers out of the Anoka-Hennepin School District, the state’s largest school system with well over 30,000 students.
The Clay County Sheriff’s Office and Moorhead Police Department, which are on the state’s western border with North Dakota, also said they’re pulling officers out of schools over the new law.
“It is my hope that we can continue to navigate the needs and concerns of community members. Unfortunately, the ambiguous limitations imposed this year are incompatible with sworn duties of a licensed peace officer,” Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt said in a statement.
“In an ideal world, there would never be a need for [School Resource Officers] to use physical restraint in the school environment,” she continued, “but when the need to respond to a serious incident arises, they need to know that they will not be held liable for appropriately fulfilling that duty.”
The mass withdrawals are in response to an education bill signed into law this spring by Democrat Gov. Tim Walz.
The law bars school-based police from using certain physical holds on students, such as the prone restraint, and outlaws any “comprehensive restraint on the head, neck and across most of the torso.”
The resource officers can use physical holds on students only when facing a threat of bodily harm or death.
“The unintended consequences of this new law limit the lawful authority of SROs to keep children safe at school and those contracted with school districts to provide safety to the students and staff,” a letter from the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association reads, adding, “SROs are counted on to support students and staff safety and must have a clear understanding and meaningful procedures and training in place before the implementation of any laws.”
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.