Senate supports Sen. Daughtry bill to help school resource officers better serve diverse student populations

AUGUSTA — On Wednesday, the Maine Senate voted in favor of a bill from Sen. Mattie Daughtry, D-Brunswick, to help ensure school resource officers have the training they need to serve more diverse student populations. LD 1040, “An Act To Require Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Training or Implicit Bias Training for School Resource Officers,” received unanimous support.

“For many students, a school resource officer is their first introduction to a police officer. This first relationship can be vital to teaching younger generations about the trust that should exist between public safety workers and those they serve. We should be doing all we can to make sure our school resource officers have the training they need to best serve our increasingly diverse student body, to make sure students know they can count on and trust these officers when they need it,” said Sen. Daughtry. “I’m grateful to my colleagues in the Senate for supporting this bill, school resource officers and Maine students.”

LD 1040 would require a school resource officer to complete training regarding diversity, equity and inclusion or implicit bias training at least once during that officer’s first year of employment as a school resource officer.

“In many cases, in addition to potentially adding to the security of our schools if they should be faced with such a horrifying situation, some SROs have also provided schools with an additional adult to whom students can turn for support and guidance,” said Grace Leavitt, president of the Maine Education Association, in testimony supporting the bill. Leavitt added that, “at a minimum, the training called for in LD 1040 is a step in the right direction to ensure that schools that have SROs are doing what they can to create the safest and most welcoming learning environments for all of Maine’s students.”

The bill faces further votes in the Legislature.