Date: Fri 17-Sep-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Police-school-resource-officer

Full Text:

Police Have A Hard Time Recruiting A School Resource Officer

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

Newtown, which was one of the first towns in the region to have a policeman

serve as a school resource officer in its public schools, is now having a hard

time filling a vacancy for that post.

Police Captain Michael Kehoe has told Police Commission members the school

resource officer post has been vacant since August 3 when officer Christopher

Vanghele was promoted to the rank of sergeant.

The school resource officer teaches courses and handles law enforcement duties

at Newtown High School and Newtown Middle School, spending most of his

in-school time at the high school.

Although Capt Kehoe posted a notice calling for an officer to assume the

voluntary job, no one has stepped forward, the captain told Police Commission

members. To underscore the post's importance, the captain spoke to several

officers whom he thought would be good candidates for the job, but still no

one volunteered for it, he added.

Capt Kehoe said he has discussed the vacancy with School Superintendent John

Reed to decide what steps to take to have a police presence at the high school

and middle school. A patrol officer may be sent to the schools occasionally to

provide a police presence, the captain said.

Police Commission member William Meyer asked why some policeman simply is not

assigned as school resource officer. Capt Kehoe explained that the terms of

the labor contract between the police union and the town require that the post

be a voluntary one.

"Why aren't they volunteering?" asked Police Commission member Charles

Pilchard.

"There's several issues with that. One of them is financial... That's been a

huge issue," the captain said.

When a person works as the school resource officer, the amount of potential

overtime that he can work in the form the police "side jobs" is greatly

decreased, according to Capt Kehoe. Those side jobs often involve directing

traffic at road construction sites in the daytime, the time when the school

resource officer is in the schools.

Captain Kehoe said he expects that the town and the police union will be

discussing the financial aspects of the school resource officer post in

continuing collective bargaining talks for a new police labor contract. The

police have been working without a contract since July 1 when a four-year

agreement expired.

Other Concerns

Besides the financial considerations, police officers have some other concerns

about serving as a school resource officer.

"There's some genuine apprehension [about] facing a classroom of kids," the

captain said, adding that some police officers are not interested in working

in a classroom setting, managing classes of students.

"There's an immense responsibility that's associated with the job," he said.

"It's not a conventional police job," he said. Capt Kehoe formerly served as a

school resource officer and youth officer.

The captain pointed out that being a school resource officer provides a

policeman with much training and can help him advance his career. It is

important, though, that a policeman serving in the post have experience as a

policeman and not take the job before he is ready for it, he said.

Capt Kehoe said the police department has a commitment to the schools to have

a school resource officer. The position was created about five years ago

during the tenure of former police chief Michael DeJoseph.

Although there is no school resource officer, "We're just a phone call away,"

the captain said of the schools' access to police services.

Capt Kehoe is running the police department in the absence of Police Chief

James E. Lysaght, Jr, who was placed on administrative leave in July by the

Police Commission while he awaits a job termination hearing.

Dr Reed Comments

"I do believe [the police] are honestly trying to fill the position," Dr Reed

said.

The measures that he and the captain are discussing for school security in

lieu of the presence of a school resource officer are only "stopgap" measures,

the superintendent said.

Dr Reed said he hopes eventually to have two school resource officers for the

schools, noting that grant money is being sought for a second position.

The resource officer post has been well received by members of the community

and the policemen who have served in the role have done a good job, he said.

"We will still call the police when need them," Dr Reed said.

Dr Reed noted that policemen who have served as the schools' youth officer and

school resource officer have worked their way through the ranks of the police

department. "These officers have careers they're pursuing," he said.

"It's a little different job. Not everybody's going to say it's going to be

great to work with administrators and teachers and students," he said.

Dr Reed said he is confident the police department will solve the staffing

problem, adding that he sees the lack of a school resource officer as a

temporary situation. "Where there's a will, there's a way," he said.

Police Union

Officer Robert Koetsch, head of the police union, said the union, the school

board and the police department all consider the school resource officer to be

a necessary post.

The police department is a "young" department with young officers who want to

do traditional law enforcement work in the field, not necessarily work in the

schools, Mr Koetsch said.

"There's no financial incentive for the officers to go over there," he said.

Town police are not highly paid, Mr Koetsch added. Financial incentives for

taking the post must be improved, he said.

"If the town feels this is an important issue, in terms of financial

incentives, then the union is willing to discuss it" in ongoing collective

bargaining talks, he said.

"There are a few officers who would take it, if there was more [financial]

incentive to take the position," he said.

Such incentives must come from the town or from the school board in the form

of better pay or more flexible working hours, he said.

Mr Koetsch added that any improved labor contract negotiated for a school

resource officer would also have to apply to the youth officer. He suggested

that the police department create a second youth officer post to lessen a

heavy workload.

The police department's youth officer teaches the Drug Abuse Resistance

Education (DARE) course to fifth graders and handles law enforcement matters

in the elementary schools. Officer Dana Schubert is the youth officer.