Police in schools should leave student discipline to teachers

November 09, 2015, 7:03 PM GMT+0

Most people think that having cops in school is a good idea, but they also say cops should stick to crime and leave discipline to teachers

There are over 43,000 police officers stationed at schools across the United States. A recent incident where a police officer was filmed throwing a student to the ground and dragging her from a classroom after a dispute with a teacher has drawn attention to the now-common phenomenon. The officer in question may face criminal charges and has already been dismissed by the local sheriff's department.

YouGov research shows that Americans largely support the presence of police in schools. 67% say that it's a good idea to have police in high schools while 54% say that it's good to have them around at elementary schools.

The public does, however, believe that police in schools should stick to their traditional roles and not get involved in enforcing discipline in schools and helping teachers manage students. 61% of Americans say that the police should only deal with crimes while only 26% say that the police should assist teachers with managing their students. Republicans (38%) are noticeably more likely than Democrats (26%), however, to say that the police should assist teachers with school discipline.

Full poll results can be found here and topline results and margin of error here.