Police consider assigning officer to schools

    The Washington Community School Board has asked the city?s police department about having an officer work in the school district full-time. Police Chief Greg Goodman said the school board and the police department are just in the initial stages of the negotiations, but he said both groups think a ?school resource officer? is a good idea.

    Goodman said that if the plan goes through, the police would move an experienced officer to fulfill the role of school resource officer and then hire a new officer to fill the vacancy.

    ?It would be pretty hard to take a brand new officer and put him in the schools,? said Goodman. ?The school officer will be doing so many things, and a new officer wouldn?t have the necessary experience.?

    Officers already spend time in the schools giving talks on subjects from drugs to Internet safety to babysitting tips. Goodman said police don?t just lecture on criminal investigations. They talk to kids about issues specific to their age, such as driver?s education.

    Schools across the nation have hired full-time police officers to monitor the schools. Goodman said the presence of an officer will make schools safer, and make the students feel safer. He said the officer would work in the two elementary schools, the junior high, high school and the ASSURE Center.

For the full story, see the Aug. 30 edition of The Washington Evening Journal