The city and Great Falls Public Schools have partnered to add a fifth school resources officer for this school year.

During the board’s Aug. 19 meeting, Superintendent Heather Hoyer said that Sgt. Katie Cunningham would be based at Great Falls High.

The move was made possible through the reallocation of some federal funds, Hoyer told school board members who said they were pleased with the added SRO.

City approves new SRO agreement with GFPS

GFPD Chief Jeff Newton told The Electric that Cunningham had been supervising the SROs and the special victim unit detectives and GFPD determined it made more sense to split those into two separate jobs.

So, Cunningham’s primary focus will be working as a sergeant responsible for the other four SROs and another sergeant will take over supervising SVU, Newton said.

City Commissioners unanimously approved this year’s agreement with GFPS for SROs during their Aug. 6 meeting.

Under the agreement, the city will provide four SROs and necessary equipment and the district will pay the city quarterly installments of $91,751.06 for a total of $367,004.24.

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Under the agreement, GFPS provides 75 percent of the wages and any associated equipment for the four SROs.

The city funds the remaining $122,334.76 of the total cost of $489,339 to provide SRO services for the school year, according to the city staff report.

Newton told The Electric that the city will amend the contract to for the fifth SRO and GFPS will also cover 75 percent of that position, totalling $111,629.25 of Cunningham’s salary and benefits.

Newton said the discussion to split Cunningham’s supervisory role started before Capt. Rob Moccasin’s retirement earlier summer. Moving into the new school year, Newton said it made sense to make the change now and they’d been in discussions with the GFPS administrative team.

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GFPD and GFPS were still finalizing the details of splitting Cunningham’s position when the city commission approved the SRO agreement, Newton said.

The city and GFPS have partnered for the SRO program for about 27 years.

The annual agreement formalizes the relationship between the two entities 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 city staff report.

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The success of the joint cooperative effort “relies upon the effective communication between all involved parties.
Moreover, the SRO’s will establish a trusting channel of communication with students, parents and school staff. The SRO’s will serve as a positive role model to instill in student’s good moral standards, good judgment and discretion, respect for others, and a sincere concern for the school community. 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,” according to the staff report.

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City Commissioners had included two new SRO positions in the public safety levy that voters rejected in November 2023.

The estimated cost of those two officers was $210,000.

Since the levy failed, the school district continued looking at options to add SROs and included them in a budget worksheet for the board’s budget committee in late July. The district could also include SROs in their own safety levy in the future.

No decisions regarding running future levies has been made.

City considering SRO agreement for upcoming school year [2023

In October 2023, GFPD officials reviewed the annual SRO report with the school board.

During that meeting, now retired GFPD Capt. Rob Moccasin said that during the 2022-2023 school year, the four SROs handled 647 total incidents, up from the previous year’s total of 432 incidents and 440 the year before.

Moccasin said he wasn’t sure what had caused the spike, but believed it was at least in part due to issues at Great Falls High and was tied to some incidents occurring off campus that were gang related.

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The total number of incidents was the highest since the 2018-2019 school year, which spiked at 660.

Last school year, there were 235 incidents at elementary schools, also the highest since the 2018-2019 school year.

Last year’s total was up from the 2021-2022 school year, which was 151 incidents, down from 190 the previous year.

The total complaints included an increased number of disturbances and assaults, which included student fights, as well as acts of violence and intimidation directed toward facilities, students and SROs.

Splitting Cunningham’s position to add the fifth SRO is a supervisory move and does not impact staffing levels, particularly in the investigations bureau and it does not help fund a new detective position, Newton told The Electric.

In the current budget, which commissioners approved in July, GFPD is budgeted for 14 sergeants and splitting Cunningham’s duties doesn’t change that staffing, Newton said.

GFPD has also made an effort to increase downtown visibility with its existing resources, but has not been able to add an additional officer focused on downtown, a position that existed in years past.

Newton said patrol sergeants are putting more emphasis on the downtown area and when time or calls for service allowed, patrol officers are expected to get out of their cars and do “some old fashioned foot patrol. We are doing the best we can with the staffing/capacity we have.”