The Wrangell Police Department was awarded $218,000 in federal funds through the COPS Hiring Program on Oct. 10. This position will be specifically for a school resource officer.
Borough Manager Mason Villarma said that through attrition, the borough reduced the force by two positions, so this grant is very useful.
“I do think that having an officer through this grant is a great idea,” he said. “I know it’s a commitment we talked about with the school board in the past about having more presence in the schools. This wouldn’t be somebody that sat in school all the time, but it’d be something that would supplement, be a resource for them, as characteristics of a lot of school districts.”
He said that the current budget shows the municipality has saved up to $50,000 with the reduction in police staff, so this grant is just an added benefit.
City seeked more police involvement in schools
Villarma said when they hired Police Chief Gene Meek last year, one of the things they wanted was more involvement in the school.
Meek said once they hire the school resource officer, that person will have to do an initial 40 hours of training on the national level. There’s additional and advanced training after that too.
“I like to have them in place by January,” he said. “If worse comes to worse and school ends, they’ll be bright and chipper for the next next school year.”
He said the job sounds simple, but there’s different responses to certain situations when working in schools than other types of law enforcement in the community. It’s not only dealing with students who have in school suspension, or ISS.
“They’re not there for school discipline,” Meek said. “They’re not there to, you know, little Johnny’s in ISS, and that’s where the school resource officer’s at. That’s not their job. Their job is to be that resource for the schools, not just for criminal activity, but to be a mentor within that facility.”
Meek said the new hire will start working in the schools right away, even if the training doesn’t happen immediately.
