Village, school system formalizing resource officer agreement
STRASBURG (WJER) (Oct. 5, 2023) – Another local school system is getting a resource officer.
The Strasburg-Franklin district will have a regular police presence beginning the week of October 23rd. Village Mayor Steve Smith says Police Chief Dave Warrick plans to hire someone from outside the department but will fill the position internally starting out.
“They’ll be an officer on loan from the police department until we get somebody hired as an SRO for the school. We’ve functioned with five officers for so long and now we’re up to six, so if they just back off a little bit, maybe have some overtime into the work schedule for police for a temporary basis.”
The district has agreed to cover 70-percent of the salary and benefits for the officer who will patrol the village during the summer. Superintendent Vince Lindsey says they will be in the school every day it’s in session to protect students and staff, identify safety issues, and build relationships but won’t be involved in student discipline.
“Being a Tiger not just with a badge but being a Tiger in our community is important, so we want them to totally be involved but we’ll leave the education and things like that with the teachers.”
Officials are still putting together a formal agreement that Smith will present to council for approval at a future meeting.