City Commissioners will consider the school resource officer agreement with Great Falls Public Schools during their July 18 meeting.
The agreement is for the 2023-2024 school year and the city will provide four police officers and equipment necessary to provide SRO services.
GFPS will pay the city quarterly installments of $86,292.75 for a total of $345,171.
City considering adding SROs to public safety levy
That’s 75 percent of the wages and any associated equipment for those four officers.
The city funds $114,017 of the total cost of $459,188 to provide SRO services for upcoming school year.
The agreement “formalizes the relationship between the participating entities in order to foster an efficient and cohesive program that will build positive relationships between law enforcement and the youth in our community, with the goal of reducing crime committed by juveniles and young adults,” according to the staff report. “The SRO’s will promote citizen awareness of the law to enable students to become better-informed and effective citizens, while empowering students with the knowledge of law enforcement efforts and obligations regarding enforcement, as well as consequences for violations of the law. The SRO’s can serve as confidential sources of informal counseling for students and parents concerning problems they face, as well as providing information on community resources available to them.”
GFPS officials discuss school safety [2022]
The police department annually reports to the school board on the SRO program and last did so in September.
Capt. Rob Moccasin of the Great Falls Police Department told the board then that the four SROs handled 432 incidents at schools during the 2021-2022 school year, down from 440 the previous year.
The city has included two additional SROs in the public safety levy proposal.
