Sheriff Jesse Slaughter presented his school safety initiative to the Great Falls Public Schools board during their Oct. 29 work session.

He said that the county safety levy included school safety and he wants a “protection plan that works for every school in America.”

Currently, the county has three school resource deputies for seven county schools, Slaughter said.

He’d wanted to start a reserve deputy program previously, but “volunteerism is not what it used to be,” Slaughter said, so he worked with state legislators on a law change to be able to compensate reserve deputies.

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Slaughter said he was also working on federal legislation with Sen. Tim Sheehy to fund this type of program, but it hasn’t been introduced yet in Congress.

Slaughter said he was working with the county human resources department to develop the job description and pay range, which he had at $20 to $27 per hour, based on experience.

His goal is to attract retired law enforcement officers for the program.

The law change, that went into effect Oct. 1, added to a section of state law that addresses compensation of county elected officials and some other employees, states that “a reserve deputy sheriff’s officer may be compensated in a manner determined by the board of county commissioners.”

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During a May budget meeting, Slaughter told commissioners to think about that option as they could now be compensated but don’t receive benefits like a full-time deputy.

In May, he told commissioners he was considering using them to support school safety, which would be a “huge force multiplier in public safety,” but will need to develop a structured program.

Slaughter told The Electric on Sept. 16 that he was nearly finished drafting the job description and he was working with the county human resources department to propose a salary range that commissioners will have to consider and approve.

He said he hasn’t advertised the program yet or started recruiting since the pay range hasn’t been set and available funding will determine how many reserve deputies the county can start with and when the program can roll out.

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Slaughter told The Electric in September that he’ll start with placing the reserve deputies in public county schools and depending on how many he has they may be in plainclothes but the deputies and school staff will know who they are.

CCSO currently has three community resources deputies, with a supervisor, who’s primary duties are school safety in their assigned areas, but they’ll also respond to calls in that area.

Under state law, a reserve deputy has to have certain qualifications and be trained and certified before they may carry a weapon. They must also complete training requirements.

Reserve deputies are “vested with the same powers, rights, privileges, obligations, and duties as any other peace officer of this state upon being activated by the chief law enforcement administrator of the local government and while on assigned duty only,” according to state law and they may only act in a supplementary capacity to the law enforcement agency and must be supervised by a full-time law enforcement officer within their span of control, which can be via radio communication.

Current state law prohibits a local government from reducing the “authorized number of full-time law enforcement officers through the appointment or utilization of reserve officers.”

Slaughter told the school board during their Oct. 29 work session that the county will fund the program, but since he’s trying to start it mid budget year, he’s starting with a corporate donation, which he said he’d announce on Nov. 13 and that one or two corporate donations might be coming.

The Electric asked if county commissioners needed to formally accept those donations and Slaughter said he was funneling those funds through the sheriff’s foundation and would make budget amendments to use the funds.

Slaughter told the GFPS board that he wanted to pilot one reserve deputy within GFPS, under the control of Sgt. Katie Cunningham, who oversees the four Great Falls Police school resource officers.

Slaughter said GFPD and GFPS would be included in the hiring process to ensure a reserve deputy candidate meets their needs and culture.

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Asked if any other communities had tried something similar, Capt. Brian Black of GFPD said he wasn’t aware of any.

Bill Bronson, school board member, asked Slaughter if he’d broached the idea with the county commission, to which the sheriff said yes and they were supportive.

Kim Skornogoski, school board member, asked if the reserve deputy would be a full time position, other than the summers.

Slaughter said not likely since the budget is limited and he’d like to roll out a few reserve deputies through the program.

Black said that they’re creating something they don’t have a reference for and said it will depend on the pool of applicants and their prior experience or training to determine what training is needed.

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“We’re kinda dipping our toes in to see how this works,” Black said.

Skornogoski asked what happens if they don’t find a candidate that meets their standards.

Cunningham said that, in her opinion, the position would remain vacant until they find someone meeting their standards and will have to train like the SROs.

She said there’s a possibility of molding the position to GFPD and GFPS’ liking, without footing the bill.

Slaughter said he hasn’t started recruitment yet and won’t “put somebody in a school that you don’t trust to be there.”

Skornogoski asked about the district’s liability and Luke Diekhans, GFPS’ business operations manager, asked Slaughter if he’d started drafting a memorandum of understanding for the pilot.

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Slaughter said he intends to do an interlocal agreement, which Diekhans said the district would need a copy.

Bronson said it would likely need to be an interlocal agreement between the district, city and county.

GFPS Superintendent Heather Hoyer said that the pilot and agreement would need formal board approval so she’d draft an email the next day to the board with Slaughter’s contact info to ask their questions.

During their Nov. 4 meeting, City Commissioners will be asked to approved their agreement with GFPS for five SROs.

Under the new agreement, which is updated annually, the district will pay the city quarterly installments of $132,651 for a total of $530,604.

The agreement formalizes the relationship between GFPD and GFPS 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.

Under the agreement GFPS pays 75 percent of wages and any associated equipment for the five SROs and the city covers the remaining 25 percent of those officers, which equates to $176,868.

The total cost for the five officers for this year is $707,472, according to the city.