FSSH Associate Professor co-authors Globe and Mail op-ed on studies about police in schools
Dr. Kanika Samuels Wortley, Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Science and Humanities, recently co-authored an op-ed for the Globe and Mail.
Dr. Samuels Wortley and her co-authors, Dr. Scot Wortley, Professor, University of Toronto, and Dr. Sandra Bucerius, Professor, University of Alberta, wrote about their Canadian studies exploring police in schools, also known as school resource officers (SROs).
Between 2022 and 2023, Dr. Samuels Wortley and her colleagues conducted research on SRO programs within both the Edmonton Catholic and public school systems. Their multi-method approach included a review of official SRO records and focus groups, interviews and surveys with over 11,000 students, 4,000 parents and 650 teachers. These are the largest and most comprehensive such studies in Canada. Unlike most other Canadian studies, Dr. Samuels Wortley and her colleagues explicitly set out to explore and understand the perceptions and experiences of racialized and marginalized students. While the findings suggest most students support SROs in schools, including among racialized students, there remain many unanswered questions related to surveillance and charging practices, due to poor recording strategies by both the school board and police. The researchers suggest the adoption of better race-based data gathering techniques to explore wider systemic issues.
