Despite his public opposition to school resource officers, Denver Public Schools Board Vice President Auon'tai Anderson asked the Denver Police Department to deploy scores of SROs to schools following the shooting at East High School that injured two administrators, the mayor's office said.
The mayor's office said Anderson made the request to Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas before the DPS board voted to return SROs to schools, according to Mike Strott, a spokesperson for Michael Hancock.
"I can confirm that Director Anderson inquired with Chief Thomas on this subject in the morning before their board meeting," Strott told The Denver Gazette. "There was no communication between Director Anderson and the Mayor’s Office about returning SROs to schools before the school board voted at their meeting."
Salazar added, "He told Thomas that he was going into executive session later and wanted to advocate for two SROs for up to 80 schools."
The DPS board on Thursday voted unanimously to suspend its ban on armed school resource officers on school grounds. The board also directed DPS Superintendent Alex Marrero to devise a long-term safety plan before the end of June.
Days after making the request to Denver's police chief, Anderson called a press briefing and effectively accused the mayor's office of forcing the hand of the DPS board to reverse its 2020 decision kicking out SROs. He claimed Michael Hancock was poised to issue an executive order declaring an emergency in order to place police in schools had the board not acted last week.
Hancock's office rejected the claim, saying the decision to put back SROs in schools came from DPS Superintendent Alex Marrero alone and that "there’s no truth to Director Anderson’s claim."
Anderson did not dispute that he asked Thomas to return SROs to Denver schools.
Anderson told The Denver Gazette that he was just checking with Thomas to see if the city could support pulling officers from the street and into the classroom. He said he worried about angry residents because policing services had been cut to accommodate DPS.
Alan Salazar, Hancock's chief of staff, said Anderson called Thomas on Thursday morning to make the request for SROs at schools.
"I can also affirm that Thursday morning, Chief Thomas let me and Safety Director Armando Saldate know that Anderson had called him that morning to request two SROs for up to 80 schools," Salazar said.
"We discussed the request at a weekly safety meeting," Salazar said, adding that Thomas, during the meeting, clarified that DPD does not have the capacity to deploy that many officers.
Before the DPS board's vote, Marrero, the DPS superintendent, said he would have an armed officer at each of the district’s comprehensive high schools — a step that, at the time, likely violated the school board's policy.
Marrero sent a letter to board members hours after two Denver East High School staffers were shot and wounded by a student on Wednesday.
"I can no longer stand on the sidelines," Marrero wrote.
In a press briefing he organized on Monday, Anderson effectively accused Hancock of forcing the board's hand.
“The school board’s jurisdiction only goes so far,” Anderson said at a press conference he called Monday morning.
Anderson added: “I can’t pass gun control.”
In 2020, Denver Public Schools decided to end all school resource officer contracts with the Denver Police Department amid protests nationwide following the death of George Floyd after he was handcuffed and pinned to the ground by police officers in Minneapolis. One of the officers was convicted of murder, while three others received prison sentences.
Anderson, who co-sponsored the SRO termination resolution with now state Rep. Jennifer Bacon, then argued that students shouldn't be greeted by law enforcement officers but by nurses, school counselors and mental health support workers, and that the $750,000 contract with DPD should be redirected to these efforts.
He also said it was about "dismantling a system that has held children of color down for far too long."
"The Denver School Board has voted 7-0 to END the contract with the Denver Police Department! — WE DID IT!" he said on Twitter.
