Texas School Police Pepper-Sprayed, Tackled and Tasered Students

Key Points:

• Since the 2022 Uvalde massacre, Texas has invested billions to station police officers in every public school, aiming to prevent similar tragedies but resulting in increased use of force against students for minor misbehavior.
• Investigations revealed over 2,600 use-of-force incidents from 2022 to 2025, including handcuffing young children, physical takedowns, Taser shocks, and arrests for relatively minor infractions like dress-code violations and vaping.
• Despite some officers being disciplined for excessive force, Texas lacks a state agency with authority to oversee school police actions, and many school boards do not actively monitor or regulate their officers' conduct.
• Texas has nearly 400 school district police departments and about 11,000 school officers, more than the total police force in many states, with increased spending on school security following legislative mandates after Uvalde.
• While many community members support the presence of officers for safety, concerns persist about the criminalization of student behavior and the absence of clear policies limiting police involvement in routine discipline.