Daviess County Public Schools board of education voted in approval Thursday to create their own police agency and expand safety measures across its district by replacing two current School Resource Officers (SROs) with five, full-time Special Law Enforcement Officers (SLEOs).
The SLEOs will operate as a police department under the school district and become a separate entity from the Daviess County Sheriff’s Office, which currently hires two SROs that work full-time at Apollo and Daviess County High Schools.
The five SLEOs will be assigned to AHS and DCHS, as well as Burns, College View and Daviess County Middle Schools. Heritage Park High School and DCPS Central Office will also be overseen by the SLEOs.
SLEOs will be certified under the Kentucky Police Officers Professional Standards and have the same authority and power as traditional law enforcement officials. The cost of hiring more security will double the price of having two SROs, increasing the price from $90,000 to $180,000.
At a recent press conference, Superintendent Matt Robbins said it would be more economical for DCPS to hire its own officers than for DCSO to pay three additional deputies to be SROs. DCSO’s Chief Deputy Sheriff Major Barry Smith agreed, saying the current arrangement wouldn’t be feasible for either agency in the future.
The decision to hire more security to patrol DCPS schools was made, in large part, because of a bill filed in January — Senate Bill 8 — that would require all SROs to carry firearms and school districts to employ a security officer at every school in each district. Budgetary issues have put up blockades for most districts, but Robbins said having DCPS employ its own police force would better meet the requirements of Senate Bill 8.
“What I particularly like is that this model allows for expansion,” said Board Chair Tom Payne who, along with the rest of the board, thanked Director of Student Support Services Damon Fleming for working to make the changes happen.
DCPS hopes to have the five SLEOs employed and working across the district by August 2020.
