Fully Sworn Police Assigned to Schools: Demographics

"About 83% of all sworn SROs were male, and 17% were female (table 2). In both local police departments and sheriffs’ offices, 84% of SROs were male and 16% were female. In school district police departments, 81% of SROs were male and 19% were female. There were no statistically significant differences by agency type in the percentages of male SROs or female SROs.

"Of all sworn SROs, 60% were white males, while black males and white females each accounted for about 10%. Hispanic males made up 8% of SROs, and males of another race made up about 5%. About 4% of sworn SROs were black females, 2% were Hispanic females, and less than 1% were females of another race.

"A larger portion of sworn SROs in local police departments (63%) and sheriffs’ offices (68%) than in school district police departments (38%) were white males. Black males made up a larger percentage of SROs employed by school district police departments (18%) than by sheriffs’ offices (9%) or local police departments (8%). School district police departments (19%) employed a larger percentage of Hispanic male SROs than local police departments (7%) or sheriffs’ offices (3%)."

Source

Davis, Elizabeth J. School Resource Officers, 2019-2020. US Dept. of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics. NCJ307334. November 2023.