POLICE CALLED ON TO HIKE PRESENCE AT AREA SCHOOLS
CAPITAL REGION, N.Y. » Students, staff and administrators are calling on local law enforcement to provide more in-school police presence following the Feb. 14 shootings that left 17 people dead in Broward County, Fla.
The New York State Sheriffs’ Association has asked the state Legislature to include funding in the next budget for at least one armed school resource officer at all 6,750 public and private elementary and high schools in the state.
Following last week’s winter break, classes resumed locally Monday for the first full week of school since the Florida tragedy occurred.
“I’ve already been approached by three school districts, asking for an officer,” Saratoga County Sheriff Mi- chael Zurlo said. “We’ve gotten calls from students and teachers since this incident. Everybody’s concerned. I need to sit down with county officials and see if we can do something.”
Zurlo said four deputies, with active- shooter training, already make periodic visits to schools throughout the county, walking through and interacting with students. Putting officers in schools full-time would require more staff, he said.
Ideally, officers could be hired and trained before the 2018-19 school year begins in September, Zurlo said.
The state sheriff’s association says the cost would be about equal to adding one teacher per school.
Saratoga Springs Police Department currently has one full-time officer assigned to Saratoga Springs High School, and patrols visit the district’s elementary schools regularly, Chief Greg Veitch said.
“The biggest problem, in my opinion, to combating school shooters is denial,” he said. “We just think it’s not going to happen here. As a result, resources aren’t dedicated where they should be.”
However, Veitch said school districts and communities have to decide for themselves the level of security they want to have. Then police do their best to respond to such requests. Police shouldn’t dictate the steps they think schools should take, Veitch said.
Saratoga Springs has many large public events, such as concerts and the summer racing season, which also pose security challenges, he said.
The Rensselaer County Sheriff’s Office has a resource officer assigned to Averill Park High School and is in discussions with Hoosick Valley and Hoosick Falls schools.
“It’s especially important
in a rural county like ours where response times come into play,” Sheriff Patrick Russo said. “Having someone in school when an incident happens is an advantage. It’s not just for things like shootings. If you have the right person there, they develop a bond with students and students are willing to talk to them. For example, they might tell an officer about an after-hours drinking party. Then we can take steps before anything bad happens, like drinking and driving.”
The day after the Florida shooting, Washington County Sheriff Jeff Murphy sent a letter to all school superintendents in his county, asking them to consider having full-time police presence.
“The truth is, we can plan all we want, but in most of these cases by the time law enforcement arrives the event is over,” he wrote. “It is my opinion that only with properly trained law enforcement officers on site will we be able to protect our children and faculty. These officers would interact with children in a positive way, getting to know them personally while viewed as being there for help.”
There about 10,000 students and 900 faculty at the 22 kindergarten-to- grade 12 schools in Washington County.
“When looking at those numbers it really puts things into perspective as to the cost of one officer’s position per district, versus the value of having a safer school setting,” Murphy said.
Under sheriff John Winchell said it’s critical
to get conversations going about possible funding sources.
“It can’t fall off the radar,” he said. “We can’t let this happen any more.”
State Sen. Kathleen Marchione, R-Halfmoon, said, “Expanding law enforcement’s presence in our schools would enhance the safety and security of students, teachers and personnel. I support efforts to re- establish and expand funding for school resource officers. In a state budget where all funds spending is projected to be approximately $168.2 billion, we can, and should, work together to find the funding necessary to make this effort a reality to ensure that our students and schools are made as safe as possible.”
Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner, D-Round Lake, said shared funding between the state and lo- cal school districts might be the best option. Many retired military veterans live locally who might make good candidates for newly- created school resource officer positions, she said.
“It’s a way to make everybody feel safer and provide employment to well-trained people as well,” she said.