Minnesota Democrats discuss what’s in store for school resource officers

MOORHEAD, Minn. – (KVRR) – There has been a lot of confusion regarding School Resource Officers ability to use bodily force which has led to some police departments throughout Minnesota pulling officers from schools.

Minnesota Republicans say this new law needs to be fixed quickly and they want a special session.

State Senator Rob Kupec of Moorhead, a Democrat, says there may be a way to have this law fixed without a special session.

“The department of education, the department of safety, the governors officer can kind of come together and say school resource officers would not be liable should any kind of incident occur where they have to hold on to restrain somebody in any manner and then we can actually fix the real language in February.”

Kupec also spoke about his opinion and what will happen with this law moving forward.

“My thought is that this was an honest mistake I think they thought they had to change this bill this statute to match up so that it would match up with the bill about prone restraint which they did not have to do so I think that’s where the confusion came”

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison also explained that the law wont have much effect on how police officers respond to any incident inside schools. 

“We Believe that the law regarding the use of reasonable force is unchanged. It may be employed to protect students or any school personnel who are at risk or actually suffering bodily harm or death, violent conduct.”

Moorhead Area Schools Superintendent Brandon Lunak says he’s been in contact with state leaders and he’s hopeful a resolution can be reached to get the officers back soon.