The Minneapolis Police spokesperson just sent me this note to explain his department's take on SRO's:

"The Minneapolis Police Department SRO’s provide invaluable service to the students of the Minneapolis Public Schools. This is not only through an increased measure of security but through relationships and mentoring with the students. The relationships built with students often prevent problems as the students feel comfortable confiding in the SRO’s."

From Richfield High School Principal Jason Wenschlag:

"In all the districts I have worked in (Bloomington, Wayzata, and Richfield) regular police officers act as liaisons in the secondary schools, usually with a designated space. That does not mean they are there all the time because of other investigations (they usually have a dual role...investigations and school liaison responsibilities), but they are there most of the time. It is an invaluable service and need for most large, metropolitan districts. This has never come up as an issue."

Schools have grossly over-reacted, and putting police officers in schools is ridiculous.

Having a parent volunteer to direct school visitors is more than adequate. If forty or fifty years ago someone had said there was a need to station police officers in schools, the person would be considered insane.

Many schools are at capacity and have little extra room for a police office. Most of the Edina schools are at capacity and Wayzata High School is looking at expansion due to growth.

RE: Mary's comment... you are correct. The Edina City Council seems hell-bent on blindly following the social engineers at the Metropolitan Council and their liberal schemes, including "affordable housing."

I say sarcastically "all we need is another parking ramp." The only reason another parking ramp is needed is because of the increased crowding caused by the out-of-scale condo building at the SW corner of 50th and France. And the rush hour traffic backups in this area have only gotten worse. I am guessing the City Council members have never driven east on 50th St. during rush hour.

Sue, I would disagree with your statement that "every city is required to have a certain amount of affordable housing." The only group pushing for that nonsense are the liberal nanny-staters at the Met Council.

The government has no business forcing cities to adhere to arbitrary housing goals.
If someone wants to live in Edina, or North Oaks, or Wayzata, that person will need to earn more money, have a smaller family (or forsake kids for a while), or scrimp and save on other things in life.

I was fortunate to live in Texas for a couple of years. I like their attitude of keeping government out of peoples' lives. They rightly scorn the effete Eastern and Northern liberals. We need more of that Texas common sense!

Then why do we have extremely poor areas of Minneapolis and Saint Paul? Never heard of this rule...give us the statute requiring this.

Speaking from having grown up while attending Edina public schools, it is important to know the nuanced differences in its "institutional cultural complexion", comparatively; i.e., that set of the attitudes, values, beliefs, norms, mores,
stresses, conflicts, and other differential "behavior drivers" that are
likely to beget criminal or otherwise deleterious and disruptive acting
out by troubled students. This cultural "soup" as it were, is the
"petri dish" that engenders the antecedents of troubled-student
behavior. It varies from community to community with changes both in
demography, and in the differential influences of its
dominant cultural institutions. We are reminded, therefore, of the ancient Greek admonition to, "Know thyself. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_thyself>";

The best solutions will be obtained through a fact finding investigation
and an empirical data gathering plan that is informed and guided by:

*

The extant cutting-edge research methods (e.g., state-of-the-art
survey research methods), the likes of which have been specifically
adapted to obtain both the data and the metrics demanded by a given
community's unique matrix of threats, risks and costs, i.e., which
have been selected for amelioration or optimization, and by;

*

The authoritative scientific literature.

For an "effete" road map and professional literature citations, contact me: claimanalytics (at) qwest (dot) net