New Ulm Public School Resource Officer Andrew Achman stands in front of the New Ulm Middle School, a building he seeks to keep safe. The New Ulm Police Department are working to better understand the new student restraint changes passed by the state legislature.

NEW ULM — Changes enacted by the state legislature have left New Ulm Police a step behind and looking for answers regarding their School Resource Officer (SRO) program.

The changes, enacted August 1, seek to restrict what school employees and resource officers can do to restrain students. New Ulm Police Commander Dean Barstad explained the basics of what the new changes entail.

“The bans in place prohibit anybody affiliated with the school, including the school resource officers, from grabbing a student in any manner that might restrict their breathing or their movement,” he said. “It bans them from placing students in a prone position. That takes a few things out of the hands of our officers. Those are tactics that might be very important for those officers to effectively do their jobs.”

Barstad said it has only been three weeks since New Ulm Police learned about these changes from the Minnesota Sheriff’s Association. This left limited time to prepare and train before the school year started. School Resource Officer Andrew Achman said it has left him unsure of the finer details regarding the changes.

“The biggest concern of this is there’s not clarification yet,” he said. “We’ve got clarification [for what happens] if there’s bodily harm or death, but there’s other situations that could arise. [In situations like] destruction of property, disorderly conduct, trespassing, this [new legislation] doesn’t quite address it. Now the SRO is on different use of force guidelines compared to other officers.”

Barstad said it is often the case when there is new legislation or changes in state statute for the Police Department to be reactionary and make plans when changes occur. He said the Police Department and School District have been having open discussions monitoring the situation and plotting the best course forward.

There is potential for a special legislative session to be called due to the uncertainty surrounding the changes and the 30 agencies statewide who have ended their school resource officer programs because of it. Barstad said the Police Department has a desired outcome should the legislature come back to the table.

“The easiest way for us to move forward as we have in the past is simply remove the school resource officer position from the language,” he said. “If they eliminate the language regarding the school resource officer, [it will benefit] our school resource officers and officers across the state. They can react to situations with their professional judgment and use the high quality training we go through annually to handle matters in the schools as we always have.”

For parents concerned about safety in the meantime, Achman said aggressive situations like those covered in the legislative changes are not a common occurrence.

“I understand their concerns,” he said. “We maintain our partnership with New Ulm Schools. I’m still the SRO. I maintain the schools are still a safe place. I will do my job to maintain a safe environment along with all the other staff and officers.”

“Our goals ultimately are to ensure student and staff safety in the schools and continue to build relationships between law enforcement and the youth,” Barstad added. “That’s the whole idea behind having a school resource officer program and that’s where we continue to be focused.”