No compromises: student safety worth the cost

As the clock approaches zero on the Surry County budget, the board of county commissioners met Tuesday night in Dobson to address the final funding questions before them.

A lingering question stemmed from the request from Surry County Schools for more School Resource Officers, an item that was not included in the Surry County Sherrif’s Office budget request.

The board navigated the choppy waters surrounding adding more staff onto the county payroll and approved creation of four new positions to safeguard elementary school students in Surry County.

County Manager Chris Knopf said Commissioner Larry Johnson had sought him out to discuss how to fund additional SROs after the sheriff’s office did not request them.

Johnson said at Tuesday’s final budget planning session, “I would love to see us have an SRO serving every school and they said they would need four. Chris (Knopf) directed me that this request would need to come from the Surry County Sheriff’s Office, because it would be their employees.”

Johnson sat down with Sheriff Steve C. Hiatt to discuss the matter. “He agreed that of course it’s a priority, but they did not put it in the budget because, I think, they were hoping for additional detention officers.”

Sheriff Hiatt “wholeheartedly agreed,” he said, that SROs were needed, “and he informed me the next day Chief Deputy Larry Lowe would be working on that. Also, I talked to (Assistant County Manager) Sandy Snow who said they would be prepared tonight with some numbers on that.”

The proposal was to add four officers at a base rate of $45,612 a year per officer. The budget projection factored in benefits, training, required psych evaluation, and a squad car for each which brought the whole total to $439,013.61.

Johnson said that Sgt. Chad Hutchens, who oversees the SRO program, was on hand to advise as to the necessity of adding more officers but instead Johnson opened eyes with his own anecdote.

“Recently an elementary school had an awards program, and an irate parent was there and they could not get the parent to be still or calm down or anything, and this was at an elementary school awards program, the parent had to be arrested and taken to jail,” Johnson said choosing to not name the school.

“The students are my main concern, I’m for the children. Money is not going to deter me from the child’s safety and their wellbeing. I want to pursue this,” he said.

Chairman Van Tucker said having SROs at schools is simply the way the world operates now, whether folks like it or not, and was vocal in his support for adding the four officers. He compared SROs to added security at the airport that was not there until the actions of others made it necessary to leave the mouthwash at home and see people in their socks in the security line.

“I can’t see a future, I won’t be here, where the board would say the world is so safe we’re gonna’ quit this SRO business. I don’t think they will go away and will be in perpetuity,” Tucker stated.

“Generally speaking, you create a position, especially in government, they don’t go away. I was amazed we got rid of (the Flat Rock — Bannertown) water and sewer district — that’s one of the first times I’ve ever seen something like that happen,” he offered to the amusement of those in attendance.

The board had questions about the cost estimate and Knopf said year one costs would be higher than the year two costs due to testing, uniforms, and cruisers which with their high performance engines run over $40,000 each.

“We’ve had this discussion before and talked about high performance engines,” Tucker said. He had questions, as the board had before, if a pursuit rated cruiser is needed for an SRO. He asked if it would be preposterous that they drive a car to get from point A to B, home to work and back, and not in a Charger or Durango ready to chase down a suspect at speed on Interstate 74.

“Every SRO has the oldest vehicles we have in the fleet. Patrol keeps the newest ones and the oldest ones go to SROS,” Chief Deputy Larry Lowe explained. “Do they have to be pursuit rated? Absolutely not. The issue we run into, let’s say that officer is on the way home and an event happens across county. They are sworn the same as any officer to respond to that.”

“We’re not against a non-pursuit or older vehicle or whatever, but I have been involved in over the last few years with audit meetings with our insurance, and that’s the first question they ask — if all officers are in pursuit rated vehicle. But they are not now, not every vehicle we have now is pursuit rated,” he told the commissioners.

Following a short recess, when the board returned Johnson said if the board was going to fund the four that they should “fund them all the way” including squad cars.

Hutchens said with the four new SROs that would take the count to 17 across the campuses of Surry County Schools, a DARE officer is attached to the schools as well but is not counted among SROs.

Only Shoals Elementary has a dedicated full-time School Resource Officer and the rest of the campuses have split coverage. Copeland shares their SRO with Rockford, Westfield with Flat Rock, Cedar Ridge and Mountain Park shares an officer, and the SRO covering Franklin also covers White Plains.

For such a large sum to be added to the budget not only next year, but in perpetuity if Tucker is correct, the board showed almost no hesitation in approving the officers.

“I think it’s fair to say, this is nothing to sneeze at — hiring four people. It comes at a cost but we’re protecting a great prize with our kids and grandkids. It’s a lot of money but I will do nothing but support this,” Tucker said.

“I am for this, we need them… I wouldn’t want it to be on my watch or yours, or anyone’s, when in this crazy world that we live in something does happen in one of these places where we don’t have an SRO.”