As a result of recent public attention on school resource officers (SROs), concerns regarding the effects of police presence in America’s schools have emerged. Despite this, little is known about how SROs and SRO programs function within the U.S. This project uses qualitative and quantitative methods to describe the six state-level programs that exist to regulate and fund SROs, as well as analyze the relationship between the schools that receive funding and their student demographics. Program elements were inconsistent among states, though some commonalities were found, such as the usage of the triad model, training sources, usage of a memorandum of understanding (MOU), and lack of regular evaluations or assessments. No relationship was found between student demographics and SRO-funded schools when compared to the overall state. The findings highlight a need for regulation and consistency among SRO programs, as well as more reliable publicly available information regarding these programs.

This thesis discusses the circumstances surrounding the movement to defund and eventually abolish the police. It introduces abolitionist theory and analyzes the economic and social factors contributing to the ideology's increasing popularity. Further, this paper examines the expenditures of several police departments in Arizona and how increases in spending affect their respective cities' crime rates. According to the regression analyses conducted for this thesis, the results indicate that there is little to no correlation between law enforcement expenditures and community safety. Upon completion of that analysis, this paper discusses recommendations to redistribute public monetary resources as a means to promote economic and social justice.