Hamilton County Sheriff-elect Jim Hammond referred to school resource officers as “very expensive baby sitters,” but teachers and students say officials can’t put a price on the impact of officers in their schools.

In an interview, Mr. Hammond told the Times Free Press last week that he wanted to form a coalition of law enforcement officials, SROs, school administrators and teachers to determine the best course of action for SROs.

At $80,000 to $85,000 per officer for salaries, benefits, training and equipment, SROs are expensive, Mr. Hammond said, and he wants so ensure the officers do more than police hallways.

“That’s a very expensive baby sitter, if you will, if we’re simply going to look at them as a hall monitor,” he said.

SROs provide a sense of security inside schools, as well as places for students to turn with problems, said Red Bank High School government teacher Dr. Patti Skates. Red Bank High’s SRO, Deputy Tim Mann, develops key one-on-one relationships with students, she added.

“There is a connection with him and the students,” Dr. Skates said. “You can’t put a value on it. Everyone thinks of him as their person to go to.”

Before school each morning, Deputy Mann patrols the grounds for intruders or suspicious objects. During school hours, he greets students, asks about their days, keeps them out of trouble and mentors them, he said. His patrol car is sometimes in the parking lot long after students have left.

“The importance of my job is immeasurable in some ways,” Deputy Mann said. “A lot of kids don’t have interaction (with other adults), and they want it. I think a lot of problems can be stopped ahead of time by SROs in schools.”

Since his initial comments, Mr. Hammond said he’s heard that people expect him to follow through on the creation of a coalition to address the SRO issue.

“I won’t be dealing with any of those issues until after I’m sworn in and take office,” said Mr. Hammond, who will be sworn in Wednesday.

Preventing violence

Properly designed and implemented SRO programs prevent violence before it occurs, said Kenneth Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services, a Cleveland, Ohio-based national consulting firm specializing in school security and emergency preparedness training.

“A well-run school resource officer program is really a first-line prevention program,” he said. “Unfortunately, the parents and the broader community and even law enforcement and school administrators don’t understand exactly what an appropriate model is for an SRO program and the value of those programs.”

When an SRO program is questioned for its effectiveness, officials should determine what needs improvement in the program because the concept is invaluable, Mr. Trump added.

Were Deputy Mann not at Red Bank, students say more fights and illegal activity would take place. He also gives students a place to turn when they don’t know where else to go.

“He’s cool because he’s somebody you can talk to about a lot of stuff, like problems with other kids,” Red Bank sophomore Taylor Douglass said. “There’d be probably a lot more gang-related stuff.”

Measuring success

County Commissioner Jim Coppinger, whose district includes parts of Red Bank and Hixson, favors the school resource officer program but wants ways to measure its success, as well as answers about how decisions regarding officer placement are made.

“We need to make sure we’re measuring the success of them with some real good, hard data,” he said. “I do know the argument could be made there could be some intangibles. I agree with that.”

Last year, he asked why Hixson Middle School, which is in his district, didn’t warrant the presence of an SRO and wants to know how it compares to schools that do.

SRO leaders meet with board of education officials to determine which schools receive officers, said Lt. Shaun Shepherd, head of the SRO program. Last year, he requested additional personnel but the county couldn’t find extra money in its budget for the request. Fifteen middle and high schools in the county still are without an SRO, he said.

SROs are paired with schools after law enforcement leadership meets with school administration to get a sense of its personality and challenges, Lt. Shepherd said.

This year, SROs will wait about a month before targeting specific problems and solutions in their schools, Lt. Shepherd said. That way, they’ll have time to understand students’ concerns without getting into the classroom with preconceived notions, he said. They also spent time this summer training and

“We’ll come together for a staff meeting next month and brainstorm among everyone on ways to combat that and how things work effectively on campus,” he said.

The SROs, many of whom are experiencing their first full school year after 14 of the 20 were put in classrooms last October, will focus on a three-pronged approach involving teaching, advising and law enforcement. They’ll be more active not only in the classroom, where they’ll teach about peer mediation and conflict resolution, but also on the playing fields and during club meetings, said SRO supervisor Sgt. Matt Vandegriff. He wants officers to appear more approachable so students feel comfortable reporting incidents that occur.

“So students know we’re a part of the school and not just an opposing figure in a uniform,” he said.

Mr. Hammond has suggested a broadening of SRO training to “make it a whole specialized unit in law enforcement that would incorporate mentoring of young people, counseling, disciplinary, those type of things, things that the principal and the coaches used to handle.”

Lt. Shepherd said Tuesday he had not spoken with Mr. Hammond, but plans to inform him about the roles and responsibilities of SROs.

“I know he’s unfamiliar with what we’re trying to do and I’m looking forward to (telling him) so he gets a feel for what we’re doing, show him the activities these guys are a part of,” he said.

 Lower Lights