Attorney General Issues Second Opinion on SRO Rule, Republicans Renew Call for Special Session

(KNSI) – As more police departments sever their school resource officer contracts, Republican lawmakers renew their call for a special session while Minnesota’s Attorney General attempted to clarify the rule for a second time.

House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth of Cold Spring made the statement after Eagan Schools and police cut ties over uncertainty about the rules governing when SROs can use physical force. Demuth says, “For weeks, schools, law enforcement, and legislators have been asking Governor Walz to call a special session to fix this problem and get school resource officers back to their posts. Despite encouraging comments earlier this month about working together, we’ve had just one meeting with the Governor who has continued to hold closed door meetings only including Democrat legislators. Otherwise there’s been zero meaningful progress even as the list of schools who have suspended SRO coverage continues to grow.”

Apple Valley, White Bear Lake, Waite Park, New Hope, and Maple Grove police made similar announcements earlier this week.

On Wednesday, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison issued a supplemented legal opinion regarding recent amendments to Minnesota’s school discipline laws. The AG’s summary opinion says the amendment does not limit the types of reasonable force that may be used by school staff and agents to prevent bodily harm or death. It also does not limit the types of reasonable force officers may use to carry out their duties, as described in Minnesota statute. He says the test for reasonable force remains unchanged and is highly fact-specific.

It isn’t clear if the new opinion will be enough to get the dozens of Minnesota police departments to reinstate their SRO programs. St. Cloud was one of the departments that cut ties with District 742’s joint powers agreement over the confusion.

In a statement emailed to KNSI News, Police Chief Jeff Oxton said, “We will have to wait for our legal advisors, including the League of Minnesota Cities, to weigh in on the new opinion before we will know how to proceed.”

The new opinion follows one issued on August 22nd, which led to further confusion when the AG said any clarification on the law would need to come from the Legislature.

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