Role Conflict and the School Resource Officer Position

This was a quantitative study designed to determine the role orientation and role behavior of school resource officers in public secondary schools in a metropolitan area of central Texas. The perception of role orientation and role behavior was assessed by two relevant groups: secondary school principals and school resource officers. Each group's perception of role orientation and role behavior was compared to determine if role conflict was an inhibiting factor in the job performance of the recently created school resource officer position. This instrument relied heavily on the work of James Telb who conducted a 1982 study involving the role perceptions of public safety officers in public institutions of higher learning as viewed by senior patrol officers and campus judicial officers. A questionnaire was distributed to both groups to assess perceptions of role orientation of school resource officers as either service oriented or law enforcement oriented. A statistically significant difference in role orientation was identified between groups on two factors: maintenance of traditional police values and police discretionary powers and handling of behavioral scenarios