Sheriff's Office forced to cut school resource officers
MESA COUNTY, Colo. (KKCO)_More than 10 schools in District 51 are now without a member of law enforcement walking the hallways.
As local revenues continue to fall, so do the services they pay for. The latest casualty is school resource officers.
"It's painful for us to do. It's really painful for me to do. I was involved in building that program up," says Mesa County Sheriff Stan Hilkey.
Sheriff Hilkey says he had no choice in eliminating three out of four school resource officer or SRO positions.
"We cut out patrol deputies, we cut investigators, we cut school resource officers, we cut civilian positions," says Hilkey.
Losing several million dollars of its budget, the Mesa County Sheriff's Office had to pull deputies from Mt. Garfield, Grand Mesa and Redlands Middle Schools. The three SRO’s in those middle schools also covered 10 other elementary schools. That leaves just one SRO at Central High School.
"Big high schools kinda have some of their own problems that are very unique to law enforcement anyway, enough to keep a patrol deputy busy there most of the day anyway," says Hilkey.
"What that means for us is our staff is going to have to be more aware of what's going on in the building," says District 51 Safety Coordinator Tim Leon.
Leon says depending on how long the SRO’s are gone will determine how they are replaced. "We talked about creating our own security in house and we've talked about outsourcing that as well, but again all of that is going to be budget driven," says Leon.
Hilkey thinks SRO’s could be absent for a long time, "I'm pretty confident that the only way that school resource officers are ever going to come back is if there is a public outcry and demand for them from parents and teachers and our community."
The district hasn't yet seen an increase in disciplinary issues or crime at those schools but say it's something it will watch for. But one thing the district does know is that it’s lost the leadership and positive role models those deputies provided.
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by james on Jan 29, 2011 at 02:10 AMLeadership ? Officer's stepping on kid's faces, throwing them to the ground causing injuries that requires medical attention, students being tasered, one student reported that a SRO hit a student in the chest and having to call paramedics because of their injuries, an SRO being put on leave for masturbating in his patrol car while only watching a group of girls ! I would encourage parents to check in on their kids and talk to their teachers it only takes a few seconds to find out what is really going on with the teachers and staff.
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by james on Jan 29, 2011 at 01:53 AMI understand the need for officer's in some schools but the scare tactic of dressing up in riot gear only deters our youth from interacting or cooperating at all,teacher's and parents need to step up to fill the void of not having a police officer around, youth want to be understood,listened to, not have someone who is going to give them a hard time, when all teens are trying to do is deal with their lives and issues. parents you want to understand them listen and learn from their point of view, trust me your going to be disappointed but give them a chance they will at some point ask for your help.
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by Upset Parent Location: Grand Jct on Dec 14, 2010 at 09:14 PMI heard recently that GJ was losing resources in the schools as well, however not due to budgetary reasons but to focus on transient issues in the valley .... ???? It makes me very unhappy as a parent to know that my childs safety in school is taking a backseat to transients.
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by get real Location: GJ on Dec 14, 2010 at 09:59 AMOne resource officer in a school will not prevent anyone from walking in with a gun. In all actuality 1 officer for 1,000 plus students or more if in high school doesnt really do much. Yet just another responsibility a teacher will take on
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by John Location: 480 28 1/4 Rd trlr #48 on Dec 14, 2010 at 09:25 AMThis was the wrong type of service to make cuts on I feel . Now that our school district has made this a proposed budget cut. Well school children and other students could be in for some real danger.Yes I have major concerns over this issue.They surely could have found something better to cut than just that item.Now students could be in real danger if an armed gunman were to walk in and open fire on students as well as teachers too.This is why I am opposed to this item being cut out completely .
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