MOORHEAD, Minn. — Citing recent changes in Minnesota law, Moorhead Police said they'll no longer provide School Resource Officers (SROs) to the city's public schools.
The education bill signed in May by Gov. Tim Walz included a provision that bars school-based resource officers from placing students in certain physical holds, including the prone restraint and "comprehensive restraint on the head, neck, and across most of the torso."
Officers and policing organizations have said the change will impact their ability to do their jobs.
"Until a solution is identified – and the more than 30-year-old collaboration with Moorhead Area Public Schools can be resumed – the City of Moorhead Police Department has reassigned its School Resource Officers back to patrol duty," the department said in a message Thursday.
"These officers will be available to respond to calls for services in the city, including our schools. Even with these changes, school safety is still a top priority. The current changes in state law do not affect officers who respond to our public schools."
The first day back in class for students in the Moorhead Area Public Schools was Thursday, Aug. 24.
Earlier this week, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison issued a legal opinion clarifying his interpretation of the recent amendments to statewide school discipline laws, saying the amendments don't limit the types of force used if they are utilized to prevent bodily harm or death.
However, if a physical hold is used, it must be considered "reasonable." Ellison said if there is no threat of bodily harm or death, then the school staff or agent should refrain from using physical holds.
Minnesota Education Commissioner Willie Jett said Ellison's opinion "provides helpful clarity to schools, including to School Resource Officers, who are valuable members of our school communities. I appreciate the Attorney General’s work on this issue and I look forward to the start of a successful new school year."
Around the Twin Cities metro, the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Hopkins school districts eliminated armed police in school hallways in 2020 following the death of George Floyd at the hands of an officer. But other schools have taken a different tack: Bloomington added police to three middle schools to supplement officers who already patrol the district’s two high schools.
Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruly said that because of increasing hostility toward police, and the lack of clarity in the new law, some officers are refusing assignments in schools.
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