{"id":102802,"date":"2026-02-02T11:09:40","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T11:09:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/102802\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T11:09:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T11:09:40","slug":"philly-school-safety-officers-to-have-handcuffs-bulletproof-vests-soon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/102802\/","title":{"rendered":"Philly school safety officers to have handcuffs, bulletproof vests soon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sign up for Chalkbeat Philadelphia\u2019s free newsletter<\/a> to keep up with the city\u2019s public school system.<\/p>\n

School safety officers on School District of Philadelphia campuses will be issued \u201cpersonal ballistic protection,\u201d including bulletproof vests and handcuffs, by the beginning of next school year.<\/p>\n

The Board of Education voted Thursday to approve a $600,000 contract with police supply store Atlantic Tactical. The funding will come out of the school safety operating budget.<\/p>\n

The decision to outfit safety officers with protective equipment comes out of the most recent agreement between the district and the School Police Association of Philadelphia, the union representing school police.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur officers are the first line of defense for the safety of our students and our staff,\u201d said Bernadette Ambrose-Smith, the association\u2019s president and a former school safety officer. \u201cThey have to not be fearful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Philadelphia\u2019s 350 school safety officers are not sworn law enforcement officers and they do not carry firearms. <\/p>\n

In addition to vests, the officers will get handcuffs and new uniforms, Ambrose-Smith said. Since 2020, these employees have worn polos and slacks<\/a> rather than police-style uniforms. The bulletproof vest will be worn under the shirt. Certain school safety officers who are assigned patrol duty will be issued pepper spray and batons.<\/p>\n

The decision represents the latest change for school safety officers, whose presence on campuses has been controversial in Philadelphia recently. In 2020, after George Floyd\u2019s murder, members of the Philadelphia Student Union called to eliminate all school police<\/a> and replace them with community members trained in deescalation. <\/p>\n

Later that year, the district moved from calling these employees \u201cschool police\u201d to using the term \u201cschool safety officers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Multiple studies have found that school resource officers do not reduce gun-related incidents <\/a>at schools, but do intensify the use of suspension, expulsion and police referral<\/a>, especially for Black and Brown students. <\/a><\/p>\n

And the changes will likely have negative psychological impacts on some children, said Monic Behnken, an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at Iowa State University.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have someone coming into your school space in tactical gear, there is no message of calming,\u201d she said. \u201cAn officer in full uniform is already anxiety-provoking. The more you arm them up, the more anxiety a student would naturally feel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Naftali Rosso-Cohen, a 10th grader at Science Leadership Academy Center City, echoed that sentiment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like bulletproof vests have a militant feel to them,\u201d he said. \u201cIt feels like there\u2019s this person who feels like they could be shot at.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosso-Cohen said he understands the need for safety officers to have protection. He still feels shaken about a shooting just outside his school last year.<\/p>\n

But he also thinks the $600,000 could be spent on more urgent needs across the district, such as classrooms that are in poor condition and aren\u2019t safe learning environments.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should be tackling that first, probably before the bulletproof vests. And also tackling that will help students generally just feel better,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I think that\u2019ll help with everyone\u2019s safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fiscal year 2026 school safety budget is roughly $40 million, a 2% increase from the year prior. It\u2019s about the same as what the district spends on school nurses. <\/p>\n

Between 2020 and 2024, the school district recorded an average of 96 \u201cweapons offenses\u201d per year, which include \u201cpossession of a gun, knife, sharp object, or any instrument capable of causing serious bodily harm.\u201d <\/p>\n

But Behnken said school resource officers can still escalate situations that could be handled in other ways. <\/p>\n

\u201c50 years ago, [behavior] that would result in a call to mom or dad now results in a referral and police involvement that could really change the course of a student\u2019s life,\u201d said Behnken, of Iowa State University.<\/p>\n

This story is part of a collaboration between Chalkbeat Philadelphia and The New York Times\u2019s Headway Initiative, supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) via the Local Media Foundation.<\/p>\n

Sammy Caiola covers solutions to gun violence in and around Philadelphia schools. Have ideas for her? Get in touch at scaiola@chalkbeat.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sign up for Chalkbeat Philadelphia\u2019s free newsletter to keep up with the city\u2019s public school system. School safety…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102803,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[7623,34130,22893,69,71,70,206,49808,10025,49806,49807,49809,49805],"class_list":["post-102802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-chalkbeat","tag-getty-editorial","tag-md","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-police","tag-school-police-officer","tag-school-resource-officer","tag-sro","tag-stairwell","tag-tiffany-wiggins-baltimore","tag-washington-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}