Milford To Continue Discussions On Resource Officer
Milford residents packed the town hall last night only to hear that the town council would not be supporting a school resource officer just yet.
With funding cut from both local governments and school corporations, money was a big concern as it relates to school resource officers.
According to clerk-treasurer Joellen Free, the town could acquire the money to fund an additional officer until the end of this year if they did an appropriation of funds, however, there is no guarantee the money would be available next year or the year after without increasing taxes to residents.
Given this information, a few motions were placed on the table, but all were turned down for lack of support.
Doug Ruch, president of the Milford Town Council, recommended providing a resource officer until the end of the school year to buy the school corporation, the town and police department some time to wait for grants and other possible funding sources.
That plan would place officer Derek Kreider, who is already trained as a school resource officer, into the school until the end of the school year. The town would then hire in one of the reserve officers to fill in for him, however, they would need another reserve officer to replace that individual. Town Marshall Rich Miotto expressed his concerns about finding another officer in a timely manner. The suggestion was eventually turned down for lack of support.
Miotto hopes to have an officer in the academy by July, allowing him to start full-time work in November. Current statistics suggest it will cost each Milford taxpayer $92.31 per year more in taxes to fund a new officer. While the current amount is considered tolerable for many, some residents expressed their concerns. With inflation and cost of living increases, that amount would increase greatly in the coming years.
Throughout the meeting, it was clear many different sides of the argument were present. “My reason for being here is a little more selfish,” Bob Phillips said. “My wife of 33 years works in the school.”
Many of the people in the building Monday also had family in the schools or work in the school themselves. Included in the ranks of those who attended were Milford School Principal Cindy Kaiser and Milford School science teacher Amy Cockburn.
Not unlike Miotto, Cockburn said the role of a school resource officer is to be more than just an officer with a gun, it should be some who can mentor students and support the guidance counselor.
The concern among Ruch and fellow councilman Dan Cochran, was fairness to all three communities.
“I don’t want to be a part of any imbalance,” Ruch explained. “All three communities should have whatever is deemed necessary; it should be equal. The police agencies and the school corporation should work together. We’re all in this together.”
“Everyone wants to do the right thing,” added Cochran. “There’s a lot of people that are doing a lot of things, but we want to make sure we get this right.”
“It’s not simply a matter of putting a police officer in there and locking the doors,” councilman Bob Cockburn stated, which was an opinion shared by many in the room. “They can be kept busy. A school resource officer can help the guidance counselor.”
Sue Cockburn, a former teacher, agreed with the councilman’s statement claiming that, as a volunteer at the school, she finds students talk to her more often than they did when she taught. “As a teacher, I didn’t have that time,” Sue Cockburn said. “By being there, they’re going to know the ins-and-outs of the children.”
Amy Cockburn agreed with her mother stating the children have a tendency to not talk to teachers, but they talk to volunteers because they are not in direct authority to the child. The general consensus among much of the group was a school resource officer would provide the same support.
“As a school resource officer, they see a police officer as a friend,” said resident Rose Pamer.
While virtually everyone in the room seemed to agree with the addition of a school resource officer, questions as to where the funds would come from, who the new officer could be and ethics of creating an officer in Milford but not in Syracuse or North Webster, seemed to leave the conversation without a definitive solution.
“I’m not opposed to the simple short-term, but you’re trying to fix something that is wrong with society and you’re not going to do it in schools. You’re going to do it in your homes and in your churches,” Cochran explained.
In the end, it was lack of support on any of the proposed motions, that caused the Milford Town Council to decide to hold the topic for future discussion.