That's because putting fully trained state police officers on school property as a resource officer for disciplinary control is expensive. The schools already pay a share of the state police costs, but it wouldn't be as expensive under the plan outlined in Gov. Markell's budget.
The five-officer pilot program at the as-yet-undetermined school districts would be classified as school resource agents and would not have the same academy training as state troopers, which makes more sense to me than putting officers in schools with detective and homicide training.
The SRA would be sworn officers and answer to the state police chain of command, but their training would be geared toward the likely problems and environment they would face in schools.
That would free up at least five state troopers initially to go on highway patrol. If the program can convince the superintendents and school boards that it is a a workable program then dozens of other troopers would be freed to volunteer for the highway patrol unit. Correct -- lessor trained agents with limited experience will cost less than the current SROs. But, moving officers out of the districts and into a new patrol and then backing filling the vacated positions with agents, will result in significantly increased costs ultimately born by the tax payers. It's just plain wrong to skew the dynamic of the conversation by diverting attention to cost saving in one domain that will be a cost increase when moved to another. And then when I contemplate the scope of expu lsions, which I cannot disclose particulars of due to privacy laws, I am aware of a distinct need to have the best trained, most experienced officers in our schools. The truth is the truth, the current system supports school climate and safety efforts. Anything less is simply not good enough.
By all accounts, state troopers assigned as school resource officers have been a rousing success. They have been praised by school administrators, parents and students. The troopers who have taken on the assignments have reported high satisfaction. Some have even gone into teaching or counseling after retiring from the state police.
But the 29 statewide SROs are fully trained state police officers, with skills in everything from traffic control to intelligence operations. For the most part, they are overqualified for the SRO positions.
State police Superintendent Col. Robert M. Coupe and Gov. Jack Markell want to establish new criteria for school officers and reclassify them as school resource agents.
While they would have much of the same training at the state police academy as troopers, their curriculum would be geared more toward the school and classroom environment, not traffic control. That makes sense.
The SRAs would be better trained to handle the everyday circumstances likely to arise at schools. Their salaries also would be lower, saving the state and school districts money.
The SROs would be phased out at about five a year, with those trooper positions assigned to a new state highway patrol division. Delaware needs more highway troopers, and this is an excellent way to accomplish that goal.
The Joint Finance Committee should approve the governor's proposal for new SRAs.
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