Council May Push For SROs At HUSD
In Which: We explain what SROs are and if they work, Councilmember Bonilla may "force the issue" with HUSD, and HPD continue to provide only free counseling funded by City of Hayward.
Councilmembers Push For Return Of SROs
During the March 26th Council Public Safety Committee meeting, the Police Chief’s report on service calls to schools received special attention. Councilmember Ray Bonilla seemed eager to revisit the School Resource Officer program with HUSD in order to address what he characterized as “more violent” incidents at local schools. The idea received support from the other members of the committee, Mayor Mark Salinas and Councilmember Julie Roche.
Calls For Service At Schools
Police Chief Bryan Matthews presented data on “school-based calls for service,” which are when schools call the Hayward Police Department for some kind of service. As we will outline below, HPD’s Youth and Family Services Bureau (YFSB) is deeply integrated into local schools and, for better or worse, are frequently called in to provide emergency counseling for free. It was unclear from the presentation whether or not the calls for YFSB services were included in the Calls for Service.
In January and February of 2025, HPD received 256 calls for service from local schools in HUSD and New Haven Unified School District—Conley-Caraballo High School is a part of NHUSD but within Hayward’s borders. Of those, 162 were to elementary schools, 15 to middle schools, and 79 to high schools. The high school calls were also broken out by specific site:
Conley-Caraballo High School - 3
Hayward High School - 13
Moreau High School - 3
Mt. Eden High School - 34
Tennyson High School - 26
No additional information on the nature of the calls was provided, though the report highlighted “significant incidents,” which included one student with a handgun at school—taken into custody without incident, three students robbed at school—suspect taken into custody off-campus, and a victim assaulted by two students who used a knife to defend himself—both suspects taken to a hospital. These incidents make up no more than less than 2% of the incidents.
What Are School Resource Officers?
For those who don’t know, School Resource Officers (SROs) are, according to the National Association of School Resource Officers, “carefully selected, specifically trained, and properly equipped law enforcement officer[s] with sworn authority, trained in school-based law enforcement and crisis response and assigned by an employing law enforcement agency to work collaboratively with one or more schools using community-oriented policing concepts.” This means that they are sworn police officers whose primary duties are to serve on a school campus.
According to NASRO, a SRO has three main duties: “educator (i.e. guest lecturer), informal counselor/mentor, and law enforcement officer.” According to a 2023 US Department of Justice report, 99.9% of SROs carry guns into the schools they are assigned to, so during all of these duties, the officers are wearing loaded weapons. According to a 2021 article in Education Week on the subject, over 2/3rds of officers most identify with law enforcement, despite the greatest amount of their time being spent on mentoring activities.
SROs became widespread in the 1990’s amid concerns around rising juvenile crime at the time, and increase in federal funding for policing due to the 1994 crime bill passed under the Clinton Administration, and the 1999 Columbine shooting. And in 1999, the US Department of Justice spent up to $700,000,000 in grants to fund SRO adoption. And Chief Matthews pointed out that after the Sandy Hook shooting, the Obama Administration also funded SRO programs throughout the country.
However, their presence can be a mixed bag when it comes to preventing crimes. Some research suggests that the presence of an SRO may decrease violent crime, but also increase suspensions, expulsions, and arrests of school children. There are a lot of holes in the research, however, and it may be that the presence of an SRO leads principals and teachers to rely on them more heavily for enforcement—a NASRO survey reported that more than 1/3rd of the arrests they made were referred to them by school staff.
There are also the racial disparities of who gets arrested and who doesn’t. According to Education Week, most states have a disproportionately higher rate of arrest for Black students—and although it was most disproportionate for Black students, it was high for all students of color. And SROs exacerbate this issue, with one study showing that the presence of SROs saw increased suspensions, expulsions, and arrests than those without, and the effect was twice as high for Black students than white students.
All of this led HUSD to eliminate the SRO program in 2021 at the request of students, community members, and Board Trustees. They have, however maintained the Campus Safety Officer (CSO) program, which relies on HUSD-employed security personnel and has widespread support from students and teachers.
Bonilla Seeks To Force Discussion On SROs
During the Council Public Safety Committee meeting, Councilmember Ray Bonilla expressed support for restarting the SRO program at HUSD. “I know a lot of communities are revisiting this,” he said. “How do we partner with the school district to reimagine something around an SRO-like program so that we are able to address these incidences and perhaps even a little more proactively.”
Councilmember Bonilla relied on anecdotal evidence to justify revisiting the SRO program. “Not only do I perceive the incidences going up,” he said, “but I perceive them as being more violent. How do we force the discussion?”
Chief Matthews highlighted the surveillance aspect of the SROs. “One of the things that we lost with the SRO program was the ability to have consistent, reliable communication between the school district and the Police Department,” he said, “and the officers kind of had their ears to the ground.” The Chief suggested there was a middle ground somewhere. “I think there is a way to balance the concerns with having police officers on site and also meet the needs in terms of student safety.”
Dr. Emily Young of the Youth and Family Services Bureau cited the recent surveys that HUSD sent out in anticipation of the budget cuts that showed a high priority on student safety. “So this is a very high importance area for them,” she said. But it is up to the HUSD Board of Trustees to decide whether or not to restart a contract with HPD. “Ultimately we were guests at the school board’s house,” Dr. Young said.
Councilmember Bonilla asked, “What do we do about this? We have to do something because inaction isn’t acceptable.” Mayor Mark Salinas agreed, saying that the climate has changed since the murder of George Floyd and alleged that the community has always been supportive of SROs. “Even a year after George Floyd,” he said, “the first year we had a National Night Out, every neighborhood I visited… the number one issue parents were asking me was about SROs.”
Dr. Young insisted that residents have never stopped wanting armed police around their children. “The community has wanted it consistently from when we had them to now,” she said, “and so it was a different time so I think taking the temperature makes a lot of sense.”
Mayor Salinas said he held regular meeting with HUSD Board President Bufete and said he would add SROs to the next discussion. Councilmember Roche expressed support for the proposal, but said, “We cannot compel [HUSD] to do anything. It’s up to the community to rise up over this.” She suggested, however, consistently sending them the Request For Service numbers as a way to convince the board. Mayor Salinas again cited the number of service calls and suggested maybe the district doesn’t know the numbers. “I’ve never heard this data cited from the district side.”
Councilmember Bonilla considered shaming the HUSD Board to force the discussion. “But we can certainly compel them to come to the table,” he said. “If we were to release this data in a press release and say the school district is not—I mean, I know that’s not the mots collaborative way of doing it, but at some point we sort of have to put the niceties aside.” He also said he was certain that something is going to happen, without citing any evidence. “[We need to] protect these children before a tragic event happens that we know is on the precipice of happening.”
Chief Matthews suggested that reaching some kind of agreement around reintroducing SROs shouldn’t be a big issue. Citing the Obama Administration’s funding for SROs, he said, “This is not a political issue.” And Councilmember Roche suggested that SROs may be a more efficient use of resources for the City and supported the idea of forcing the conversation with HUSD.
HPD Provides Mental Health Services
The Youth and Family Services Bureau of HPD gave a presentation to the Council Public Safety Committee last month outlining their services and impact on students and children. The presentation failed to explain justify why the only mental health services provided by the City of Hayward are in the Police Department, which is a barrier to service to some residents. However, Councilmembers were impressed by the grant funding and impact provided by the substantial Police Department budget.
A 50-Year-Old Model
The Youth and Family Services Bureau has been, according to Dr. Emily Young, been providing mental health services as a part of the Police Department for almost 50 years. “For almost 50 years we’ve been taking this approach of, ‘Okay, let’s figure out what’s going on and actually address the root cause instead of just punishing the crime,’” she said.
The Bureau attempts to reduce or prevent juvenile involvement in the criminal legal system and addresses what it says are the root causes of problematic behavior, including mental health, family conflict, substance abuse, and lack of access to positive opportunities and support.
During 2024, YFSB says it served 3,321 youth, families, and school staff through its various programs, presumably through large-scale trainings or presentations—YFSB did not explain the details of how they reached that number. Of those people served, 133 were served by individual and group therapy, and positive youth development groups.
The funding is subsidized by $1,300,000 in grants and contracts from the Alameda County Probation Department, HUSD, and Alameda County Health Care. Despite the budget cuts at HUSD, Dr. Young said, “We’re gonna be okay next year,” when discussing the funding from HUSD for their services.
275 youth were also served in their Delinquency Prevention Network Program, with 33% being referred by schools, 25% by family or themselves, and 24% by law enforcement, and 14% by the Probation department. Dr. Young celebrated the calls from families. “That means we’re known and respected and valued within the community,” she said. “We have generations of families, ‘Oh, I was there when I was a kid.’”
Committee Supports YFSB Programs
Councilmember Bonilla asked what the school-based programs look like. Dr. Young said that YFSB has 4 FTE counselors at 1 elementary school and 3 middle schools. They conduct the School Climate Initiative and provide both small group recovery sessions and individual crisis assessments.
Councilmember Bonilla then asked about high schools. “They’re more sort of off the walls emotionally,” he said. Dr. Young said that high schools are covered, just not by YFSB. “All the high schools have these services,” she said, “they’re just not provided by us.” She then related that one counselor is allegedly being laid off because of the budget cuts, which Councilmember Bonilla found interesting. “[It will be] interesting to see the demand that that creates on your program.”
Councilmember Bonilla then asked if there were issues with students who had had bad experiences with police or the criminal legal system using their services. Dr. Young said that they’re always upfront about their position within HPD and ask if they’re comfortable. “More often than not, people are okay with it,” she said. “Sometimes they’re not okay with it.” She said that they try to connect them to other services if that’s the case.
On the subject of diversion, Councilmember Bonilla asked if that was a requirement for some students. Dr. Young said it’s not required, “But,” she said, “life is full of choices.” She said that often the option is sometimes between further court or criminal procedures and doing the diversion. “There’s encouragement, I’d say,” she said.
Councilmember Bonilla, a frequent budget hawk, praised the outside funding for YFSB. “[I’m] really pleased that you've diversified your funding and don’t just rely on the general fund,” he said. However, he admitted their funding was hardly in jeopardy regardless. “Even though it’s something that we would always prioritize.”
Mayor Salinas asked how much the $1,300,000 funded of YFSB’s budget. Dr. Young wasn’t certain, saying that of the 15 FTES for the Bureau it maybe funds 1/3 of their budget. But she stressed that it has expanded their offerings. “It’s grown,” she said. “We’ve added people, we’ve added programs.”
Councilmember Roche asked if YFSB would help students if their parents wind up being detained by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Dr. Young said that 3/4ths of their counselors speak Spanish and that they have “really good language capacity for working with the Latinx population.” She, however, did not outline a larger plan beyond being able to communicate with people in Spanish.
Mayor Mark Salinas expressed unconditional support for the YFSB and housing counseling services within the Police Department. “We have been providing these services for 50 years,” he said, “and I just want to highlight that this is really the important part of the story.”
The Mayor also took issue with calls to provide mental health services to students, since the Police Department has been doing that with YFSB for so long. “Last year with concerns around mental health, the conversation, I felt, was a bit disingenuous,” he said, “because we’re talking about it as if it doesn’t exist, as if we never had it done or we never even done it or we were tone deaf to the needs of the community… It hurt because I thought it just dismissed the nearly 45 plus years of inventive work and creative work we’ve been doing.”
Bringing It Back To SROs
Councilmember Roche brought the topic back to SROs when she asked if the 33% referral rate from the schools was higher than it was when SROs were on school sites. Dr. Young didn’t seem to think so. “The part that would be different without SROs is the law enforcement referrals,” she said. “Our law enforcement referrals were probably higher.”
Dr. Young said that the SROs—who were police officers—frequently brought children in to YFSB offices for services. “We used to have SROs bring us kids for crisis sessions at least twice a week,” she said, “and I don’t remember the last time an officer brought a kid from the school.” She also noted that the SRO program lived under the Youth and Family Service Bureau’s purview and that she was the one running the program.
This information made Councilmember Bonilla even more favorable of armed police officers in schools. “Hearing that you ran the SRO program really makes me want to push this even more,” he said, “Because it’s in good hands.”
Councilmember Bonilla seemed to conflate the counseling services with the SROs who, as mentioned above, predominantly identify as police officers. “Especially with the how dynamic and culturally competent all of what you provide… that just sounds like such a unique perspective to house that kind of program.”