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School security experts from across the country will converge in Washington, D.C. later this month to evaluate the effects and effectiveness of a variety of security measures currently in use in the nation’s schools.  The national conference, to be held Sunday, October 21 – Tuesday, October 23, is being organized by Timothy J. Servoss, PhD, associate professor of psychology at Canisius College and his UB colleague, SUNY Distinguished Professor Jeremy Finn, PhD.

The conference will bring together educators, researchers and practitioners, many of whom are nationally known for their work in school security, and highlight the security disparity between schools with large minority populations and those whose student populations are predominantly white.

Servoss and Finn have studied the subject of school security measures at length.  In 2016, using survey data from the U.S. Department of Education, they found that the more security in a school, the less safe students feel.  Additionally, their research indicated that increased security does not decrease student misbehavior, crime, victimization or bullying.  It does, however, lead to higher suspension rates in schools that utilize resource officers.  Heightened security also triples the likelihood of students being arrested in schools that employ police officers.

At the conference, Servoss will present brand new results from the most recent data collections on the relationship between police in schools and student arrests, as well as racial/ethnic disparities in the implementation of security.

Click here to read more about Servoss’ research and the upcoming conference.

Submitted by: College Communications