Police officer could return to San Luis High

SAN LUIS, Ariz. — San Luis High School could soon have a police officer on its campus as a resource officer after having lacked one for about a year.

The San Luis City Council scheduled at its March 14 meeting to consider a police department proposal to renew an agreement with the Yuma Union High School District to reassign an officer to the San Luis campus.

If the agreement is approved by both the council and the high school district governing board, the school resource officer’s responsibilities would include ensuring student safety on campus and other crime prevention or risk reduction duties as assigned.

Acting San Luis Police Chief Richard Jessup told the council at a recent work session on Wednesday that under an intergovernmental agreement between the city and YUHSD, the district would cover the estimated cost of $88,528 of assigning an officer to the school.

The agreement is scheduled to be presented to the YUHSD board for possible approval at its March 14 meeting, said Eric Patten, community relations and engagement director for the district.

The school has been without an SRO since last spring, following the retirement of the officer then assigned to the post. Jessup said the department has not been able to refill the post until now, owing to the lack of an available officer.

Jessup’s proposal comes on the heel of the Florida high school shooing that has revived national debate on the issue of campus safety.

San Luis police have held off in filling the SRO vacancy in part because the job description is being redone to give the officer additional opportunities for interacting with students, parents and teachers, he said.

Jessup said the department eventually wants to work with other San Luis schools in establishing a Neighborhood School Resource Officer (NSRO) program. Modeled after an initiative in place in Yuma, the program would free up officers at various times to visit elementary and junior high campuses in the city.

The spate of shooting incidents in recent years has prompted calls around the nation for police officers to be assigned at all schools at all hours, Jessup said. But given budget constraints facing both school districts and police departments, he said, creating that level of security would be difficult.

“We are trying to find creative ways to do it, to have at least one officer who goes to all the schools at different times of the day, and who is in constant communication with teachers and (school) administrators,” Jessup told the council.

“The goal is to develop trust among students, teachers, parents and officers and a better connection with the neighborhoods.”

The formal proposal to create an NSRO program could be presented to the council as it begins work on the city budget for the new fiscal year that starts July 1.