Decatur police chief explains department’s preparedness
DECATUR — The Uvalde, Texas, massacre on May 24 has parents and school officials questioning the security of their own facilities and the effectiveness of the local police and sheriff’s department to protect kids, faculty and staff from a disturbed individual.
Unfortunately for the citizens of Uvalde, conflicting stories and misinformation have raised more questions than answers when it comes to school safety.
Decatur Police Chief Steven Grizzle, in a news release dated May 31, expressed his sympathies to the people of Uvalde. But Chief Grizzle also explained that his department, like those of Gravette, Gentry, Highfill, Centerton and many others around Northwest Arkansas, trains and stands ready to face incidents like the ones in Texas, Florida or the Columbine High School shooting that left 15 dead, including the shooters, in Colorado.
“It is a very sad day for our nation and, as a parent and law enforcement officer, I feel the anger, hurt and a multitude of other emotions because of the incident that occurred in Texas,” Grizzle wrote. “It can happen anywhere, and it has happened in multiple areas.
“While we don’t want to see this type of incident in our area, we train for the worst case (scenario) in hopes we will be able to react properly if we need to. We always invite all area agencies to our training, and many of them actively participate in these training sessions. This is a good thing since most of the agencies that train with us would also be responding to any call for assistance from our agency.
“My agency, over the last year, has responded to a few calls for assistance from our schools, and we have a good response time — something with which I believe our school administrators would agree. But even with a three-minute response, we know a lot can happen in that short time, so we are working with Decatur Schools and the Decatur City Council to have a school resource officer at the schools during operations, including games and special events.
“Our police department will still react to any calls for assistance, but we will have an SRO on the scene within seconds instead of minutes. The SRO will not only train with our department, and other departments, but the SRO will also develop safety plans for his specific school and train with the staff of that school. The SRO will build relationships with the kids of the school and have knowledge of who is a possible threat and who needs intervention or assistance. The SRO not only has to be certified and an Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy graduate, but also is required to complete additional specialized training.
“As the chief of the Decatur Police Department, I strive to make our city the safest it can possibly be for the citizens who live here and the visitors we have in our city every day. We have patrol officers protecting the streets, answering calls and reacting to any emergency that is called in. The SRO has the same mission in the schools — that is to make them the safest place where the kids can learn and grow while having a positive interaction with law enforcement officers.
“Our prayers will be with the families of those who lost loved ones. And we learn from their experiences to help us do a better job of protecting our loved ones.”
The city of Decatur and the Decatur School Board, with the guidance of the Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education and the University of Arkansas Criminal Justice Institute, now have a memorandum of understanding in place to have a full-time school resource officer in place at Decatur schools for the upcoming school year.
According to the Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education website, in addition to the training required of all sworn law enforcement officers in the state, “sworn, nonsupervisory law enforcement personnel, including without limitation school resource officers, who are assigned to a public school campus during the instructional day or employed by a public school district shall complete the following training:
* Forty-hour basic school resource officer training program provided or approved by ACSS (Arkansas Center for School Safety), within eighteen (18) months of being assigned or employed by the public school district;
* Every (5) years thereafter, complete a sixteenhour school resource officer refresher training provided or approved by ACSS;
* Obtain certification in Youth Mental Health First Aid, within eighteen (18) months of being assigned or employed by the public school district;
* This training shall be maintained and renewed every four (4) years if the school resource officer remains assigned to or employed by a public school district;
* Complete twelve (12) hours annually of public school-specific continuing education provided or approved by ACSS.”