Minnesota Representative and Moorhead Police Chief spout disagreements over School Resource Officers

(Moorhead, MN) -- A lawmaker who represents Moorhead is sounding the alarm on School Resource Officers saying students feel they are "over policed" at the district

Minnesota Representative Heather Keeler, who represents District 4A, speaking to lawmakers in St. Paul about concerns she has with School Resource Officers.

"The only people who reached out to me; my superintendent didn't, my teachers didn't [...] 60 of my students reached out to me and said it is like a prison style policing in my school[s]," said Rep. Keeler to lawmakers. "I don't need the data to tell me this is happening. I believe our students and I believe our teachers, and I believe our parents when they say they've seen this happen in our schools."

The conversations are occurring due to possible changes to a previously passed SRO law in 2023, that led to confusion among law enforcement and the eventual pull-out of officers from schools for multiple districts. Moorhead was one of the first districts in the state to pull their officers in the state, and one of the first to return officers to schools after clarifications to the newly passed law by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. 

Shannon Monroe, Moorhead's Police Chief, says he respectfully disagrees with Representative Keeler about many of the topics she brought up in the discussions in St. Paul. This includes discussions about over policing, saying they have only one School Resource Officer in the middle and high school, and two who largely play educational roles and are typically not used for SRO purposes, one in the middle school and another in the Career Academy. 

"I want to give as much respect to the representative for her position. I don't know what her personal experiences are, "said Chief Monroe. "We want to build that relationship and if there are people who feel that way, how do we fix that."

Chief Monroe says he wants to speak with Representative Keeler to clear up any concerns.