HARRISBURG, Pa. — Due to an uptick in violence, the Harrisburg School District (HSD) is discussing bringing police to their schools.
In a forum held yesterday, parents and members of the community talked about the benefits and their concerns of having police officers throughout the district.
“Students here need someone to trust, because we don't have a lot of trust and honesty here so I feel like it would really help if there was adults to trust that they have here,” Joy Chambers, a sophomore at John Harris High School, said.
The officers would work directly with the school and would not be borrowed from another office.
The hope is that because school police officers would work directly with the school instead of being split between multiple offices or duties, they would offer improved response time, better relationships with students and full accountability for school incidents.
Community members focused more on addressing the violence in schools instead of the lack of officers in schools.
“It is going to take a community and a village for us to solve this problem," Eric Turman, superintendent of the HSD, said. "It is not going to be this one answer this one solution that is going to solve a problem, that probably has existed for a long period of time.”
Several parents shared stories of their own children being bullied or subjected to violence at HSD. Those who spoke voiced wanting to avoid a so-called "school to prison pipeline" that seems to funnel students straight from school into the criminal justice system.