Minnesota police pull school officers after new law limits intervention when students “pose a physical threat” – Law Officer

After Minnesota politicians passed a law that prohibits law enforcement from actually being law enforcement in public schools, police agencies are removing school resource officers from their assignments.

The new law reads as follows:

“An employee or agent of a district, including a school resource officer, security personnel, or police officer contracted with a district, shall not inflict any form of physical holding that restricts or impairs a pupil’s ability to breathe; restricts or impairs a pupil’s ability to communicate distress; places pressure or weight on a pupil’s head, throat, neck, chest, lungs, sternum, diaphragm, back, or abdomen; or results in straddling a pupil’s torso.”

Rep. Laurie Pryor, DFL-Minnetonka, who heads the House Education Policy Committee said,

“We want to make sure that they are being handled in a way that really respects the fact that they’re young, they’re children. And we want to make sure that we don’t create situations that will lead to excessive force, we want to make sure that our kids are safe and that they are being handled in a way that’s really respecting their needs.”

School resource officers won’t be returning to St. Cloud or Mankato schools pic.twitter.com/iMsUBztYmB

— Alpha News (@AlphaNewsMN) September 2, 2023

Democrat Governor Walz signed the bill