Save money and hire retired cops, just as capable

Hey, let's spend a bunch of money so kids can " see cops in a different light" and " have pleasant interactions".

Seriously?? Talk about being taken for a ride!

I am a middle school teacher in Wayne and this is just a waste of money. Put the money toward classroom instruction. I could see having one who rotates between the 3 schools.

The BOE just can't pass on any expenditure, no matter how unneeded that project may be. SRO's are a total waste of resources, funds, and provide a false sense of security that doesn't exist. If the feckless BOE goes for this extravagant expenditure, then for each new SRO, there needs to be a reduction in two counselor positions on the budget.

I don't recall ever having a police officer in school in my youth. And in my schools we had a much tougher crowd than they have today. And that is not just limited to the kids, I am also talking about the Nuns.

It says the district and the township would each pay half...therefore the cost if $512K. What other expenses beyond salary are included in this cost? $500K seems like a lot of money for 3 school to have what I read to be a counselor who is also a Police Officer. Not saying the program does not have merit but for this cost, I can think of other uses within the classroom or to have after school athletics for middle schools like many other towns.

IF the school district and township are splitting the cost, and the school district cost is 256,000, that translates to over $170,000 salary and benefits per officer. And the school day is less than 8 hours, so there's a productivity loss versus a patrol officer. So, while I actually would support SRO's, there needs to be better management. But that's the Wayne story in a nutshell.
By the way, how is Mr. Teacher posting a comment at about 9:50 AM or so, when even the delayed opening today has school in session?

Stop the nonsense. Require Wayne Police use school parking lots when filling out accident reports etc. Request they patrol parking lots frequently during school hours. Shift Commanders could also schedule Officers to walk through schools as part of their patrol.
Ask the County Sheriffs Department to support in anyway possible as well.

A lot of good suggestions here. Am I the only one who read the part about the fact that they are budgeting $256,000 on a line item that has neither been discussed with the Wayne PD, nor decided by the Board? What happens if we don't move forward? We spend the money on something else? Why are we budgeting in this manner? Feel better Mr. Teacher. I have the flu that's going around as well.

The SRO was an essential part of my child's middle school experience. He was bullied a few times and it seemed easier for him to talk to the SRO than teachers (who were too busy with curriculum) or principals. I do, however, think they can use one or two floating between the middle schools. And good point, Cathy, how was this amount determined and budgeted for?

The Sherriff's department is already working with Wayne PD on school initiatives and trains with them. They already take care of PCT with help from Wayne if an emergency happens. They do not have the resources to provide full time help. While I agree there are other things the town could do I would not say the SRO's are a waste of time.

Scondo when you were in school how many incidents of mass school shootings were there? Society is broken and unfortunately we have to protect the students and teachers a whole lot differently than in the past.

Why do we have to put someone who is an active police officer? Are there State or Federal laws that determine what can be done? Is it possible to hire a retired police officer? I would think you wouldn't have to pay for his benefits such as health insurance, dental and vision coverage. I would also think by hiring a retired police officer that you can negotiate a more economical salary, and pay less than you are paying an active officer. After all, I would think his hours are approx. from 8-3, no nights and weekends, and it's only 10 months per year. ( 180 days). That's not bad duty! If there is a law on the books regulating this, making you hire an active officer, then all above is moot. Also, why couldn't we float maybe 1 or 2 officers throughout the 3 schools, as opposed to hiring 3.

Curious....why didn't the Police Chief know about this initiative? Only seemed to know about this after the fact!

No law up to the town counsel

Why can't one or two officers patrol randomly thru the High Schools & the Middle Schools during the course of the school days. They would be assigned only to the schools and respond to any school related calls. Seems to me this would save alot of money and manpower also. Two officers & two cars would be sufficent. This also would serve as a deterent as they would show up unannouced rather then on a predictable schedule. It seems to me an officer 8 hours a day in each school would have alot of free time which translates to no productivity. This would save alot of taxpayer dollars. As for retired officers we are already paying thier lifetime benefits and thier training and skills in this area may not be up to the requirements needed to be in the school enviroment. This is a needed requirement these days but an officer at ever school isn't cost effective and is a waste of manpower.

I wonder if the parents in Newton, CT would be willing to pay this much to have had an officer in the Sandy Hook School that day? The principal and other staff were heroes who gave their lives to protect kids, but because they were not armed, they could only delay that deranged freak for a few seconds while he shot them instead of kids.

The parents do chip in to cover the cost when they pay their property taxes, but I agree there may be ways to reduce the costs and still have protection. The use of retired officers is one possibility. The main issue is that the only thing that can stop a committed attacker with a gun from killing kids in a school is someone else with a gun to put him down. It is ugly, people dont like it, but it's reality. Our society is not getting better anytime fast. The last 20 years or so of plugging kids in to video games and giving them medication instead of the time and discipline of real parenting and counseling has resulted in our growing list of glory seeking mass killers. It will happen again. The only question is, where?

As I recall when the SRO's were in the middle school they led programs like DARE, bully prevention and internet safety. I'm not saying I agree or disagree with this program but I do know the officers had regular duties in the school building each day and were not just guidance counselors.

Retired officers qualify on a range. They do not participate in active shooter training or scenarios. Recently in NY an armed Federal ATF Agent who was walking into a holdup situation at a drug store was shot & killed by a retired NYPD officer in a case of mistaken identity. Officers responding to active shooter incidents have to be well trained and keep thier skills up to par by continuous training. Not shooting at targets at a range. Also when confronted by a heavily armed shooter with an assault rifle a lone police officer armed with a semi-automatic handgun chance of surviving the encounter is very low. Many of these mass shootings were well planned and the shooters were heavily armed and wearing body armor. The effectiveness of lone officer in an incident depends alot on the circumstances of the incident. An officer at the door of the school in Newtown when the first shots were fired may well have been the first victim also. Schools need security and should be a priority for regular police patrols both inside and on the grounds. But an officer in a school isn't an iron clad solution to the problem. Armored trucks with 3-4 armed gaurds have been sucessfully robbed as an example.

Whomever would be assigned to a school would need to attend training such as what Pad described. Certainly a superior weapon gives one an advantage, but it is not an automatic deciding factor in who will win a confrontation. Superior training and experience will more likely win. There have been countless examples of this in the past. Sgt Alvin York was outnumbered and outgunned and the enemy had the high ground when he killed 20 German soldiers and took another 132 prisoner in WWI. A lone police officer with a handgun shot and incapacitated a school shooter who was armed with a shotgun, a superior weapon, at El Cajon HS in california. The media and those who know little about guns like to paint the "assault weapon" as an invincible killing machine and that no one stands a chance against it. The moment that the freak in CT was confronted by a cop with a gun, the killing of kids stopped. Once he was forced to face to the pressure of armed adversaries, he was no longer free to stand over kids and execute them, so he killed himself. Had there been an armed person at the school, that deranged loser would have chosen some other location where he would not meet resistance. Maybe an office building or shopping mall, but that's a lot better than an elementary school.

The doors were locked he shot the doors open. The school had an entry process. In LA it took over 100 officers to bring down three armed men with assault rifles and body armor robbing a bank. They even needed to use an armored truck for cover. LAPD is one of the highest trained PDs in the country. The school resource officer would have minimal impact against a well armed individual who planned it all out ahead of time. The officer would have to be in the exact position at the moment the incident unfolded. The Newtown shootings were over in a matter of minutes.

Newton Conn., Columbine, WilliamsPort Pa. Idaho, Arizona, California and Florida can all testify to the fact that shooter's entered their school's and began a senseless rage of killing with a high-powerd rifle, and/or semiautomatic weapons, pistols etc.
The other comparison that was determined was that in all of these cases, at least one of the shooters involved in planning the mass killings, was currently taking a prescription antidepressant, or had traces of a precription antidepressant in their blood streams at the time of the autopsy.

Zoloft, Clonodine, Depakote, Seroquel, Tylenol Plus or some other form of drug intended to treat anxiety.
It's time to stop hiding behind 'sealed medical records' and 'privacy rights' regarding the names of the students, and come to terms that we need to educate everyone surrounding these patients, as well as anyone who is a part of these students environment on a daily basis.