Research Report: Potential Implications of Florida’s Expansion of Required Reporting of School Incidents to Law Enforcement

This research report examines a recent policy change in Florida that substantially alters the required reporting of school incidents to law enforcement. The analysis projects the impact of this policy on law enforcement involvement in schools.In particular, the analysis calculates the number of school incidents reported to law enforcement in Florida prior to the policy change and estimates the number of incidents, types of incidents, and variation across counties in reporting of incidents to law enforcement that would have occurred had the policy change been in place at the time. The results demonstrate the potential for reports of school incidents to law enforcement to increase by over 43,000 reports, more than doubling the prior year. Increased reporting is projected to vary by school district and incidents, with fights, physical attacks, and threats increasing substantially. This report discusses the implications of this policy change on the criminalization of students, administrative burden on teachers and law enforcement, and data reporting/quality. Implications for policymakers are provided to help balance safety and unintended consequences.