In an article titled, "The Art of Safe School Planning" (American Association of School Administrators Online Newsletter Number 2 Vol. 53 Feb,1996 ),Ronald Stevens, the Executive Director of the National School Safety Center in Westlake, California states:

"No greater challenge exists today than creating safe schools. Restoring our schools to tranquil and safe places of learning requires a major strategic commitment. It involves placing school safety at the top of the educational agenda. Without safe schools, teachers cannot teach and students cannot learn."

Schools are facing the challenge of maintaining a safe school environment by developing and implementing new prevention programs. One of these innovative programs is the School Resource officer Program. School Resource Officer Programs have been in existence since the 1950s. However, according to Curt S. Lavarello, executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO), "Over the last five years, this has been the fastest-growing area of law enforcement, bar none." More than 5,000 school districts in the country have programs to station police officers in schools, and more than 10,000 law enforcement agencies in all 50 states have agreements with school districts to provide service--up from 2,000 just a decade ago, Lavarello said.

Although School Resource Officer Programs are becoming more popular, some misunderstanding about the role of these police officers working in a school environment still exists.