Region: Montville officials push for school security

Public Safety Commission has created three-member subcommittee to help examine town’s options

Montville — The town police department has not staffed a school resource officer for about five years, with officials citing concerns about manpower.

“We don’t have the staffing for it,” Lt. Leonard Bunnell told members of the Public Safety Commission this week.

In an interview, Bunnell said it’s challenging to retain officers when so many “leave to go to a full-time department. That severely impacts us.”

Staffing and financial concerns notwithstanding, several town officials are calling for added security measures they say could serve as a deterrent to mass shootings and other violence seen in schools across the country.

Suggestions include bringing back SROs — with police staff or volunteers — or arming the high school’s security officer.

The Public Safety Commission this week created a three-member subcommittee to review security options. The panel plans to discuss the issue in the coming weeks with Superintendent Brian Levesque and the Board of Education.

Since 2013, the school district has employed retired state Trooper Mike Collins as campus security officer at the high school. Town and school officials said Collins is armed with a Taser.

Councilor Jeff Rogers, a retired state trooper who once served as an SRO, said he fully understands Bunnell’s staffing difficulties. But he recommended the department’s current D.A.R.E. officer serve as a permanent SRO who “handles everything in schools until such time you really need to pull her. We need to properly deploy our people.”

Former Oakdale fire Chief Gary Murphy told commissioners this week he thought it was “disgusting we don’t have an armed SRO. All of our schools need to have better protection.”

Bunnell said for the last couple of years he’s mandated more thorough and randomized patrol checks at schools. Every week, district officials share details with police on all events at every school and the community center.

“That’s as far as I’m going to be able to take it for now,” Bunnell said.

“An armed security person in the school is a sign of the times. It’s unfortunate. But as long as they meet the criteria of statute, by all means they should be armed.” MONTVILLE POLICE LT. LEONARD BUNNELL

Instead of staffing police SROs, Bunnell advocated for the district’s security officer to be armed, calling Collins an “outstanding individual with significant experience.”

“An armed security person in the school is a sign of the times,” Bunnell said. “It’s unfortunate. But as long as they meet the criteria of statute, by all means they should be armed.”

Commissioner Mike Butterworth urged town and school officials to research ways to implement greater security.

“I called around to several places that have Board of Education security personnel, armed and unarmed,” he said. He noted many districts hire multiple retired law enforcement officers like Collins, or former corrections and military personnel.

“You can do it, big budget or little budget, depending on the money you have,” Butterworth said.

Board will make security decisions

Emergency Management Director Ray Occhialini and Mayor Ron McDaniel noted a mix of teachers, administrators, public safety personnel and residents help develop a safety plan for each school. They suggested commissioners research the plans and present their own findings and ideas on security to the Board of Education.

Levesque said the Board of Education, not the Public Safety Commission, would make the final call on whether to arm security personnel. But he and Collins declined to comment on the matter further until the school board has a chance to discuss it.

Board President Robert Mitchell, who complimented Collins’ work for the district, said there were “many different ways of looking at” arming security officers.

“We’re never afraid to talk and get other input and ideas,” he said. “You never know where a solution will come from.”

Commissioner Victor Lenda Jr. suggested officials consider creating a community resource officer volunteer (CROV) program made up of qualified people, potentially retired law enforcement, who receive training specific to school security.

“Whether you arm them or not is up to the Board of Education, but it would be a deterrent,” Lenda said, noting anyone armed would have to be fully trained and certified to carry a firearm.

Rogers said he “110 percent” supports having an armed SRO who was an active police officer. But he cautioned officials that arming security personnel or volunteers opens the door to a “liability that becomes a gray area.”

State and federal law generally bars possession of firearms in gun-free school zones, with a few exceptions. But schools can enter into agreements with individuals allowing them to carry weapons, per state law.

Asked about volunteers bulking up the security presence at schools, Mitchell said he’d have to fully review any proposals and procedures.

“There’s a lot of training that goes into being a school resource officer,” he said. “It’s not like it’s just an assignment they get that day.”