County Commissioners voted unanimously during their Dec. 23 meeting to set the compensation rate for reserve deputies that Sheriff Jesse Slaughter is proposing to augment school safety.
The 2025 Legislature enacted a law, effective Oct. 1, allowing county governments to compensate reserve deputies with a rate set by commissioners.
Reserve deputies were previously authorized under state law, but were unpaid positions.
Slaughter lobbied for the law change and has proposed using a reserve deputy to augment the school resource officer program, which is a longstanding partnership between Great Falls Public Schools and the Great Falls Police Department.
Slaughter worked with the county human resources department to finalize the job description earlier this fall and on Dec. 23, commissioners voted to set the compensation at $20-$27 per hour, depending on experience, as determined by the sheriff.
The new compensation rate is effective Jan. 1.
The job description has not yet been posted on the county website, as of Dec. 28.
Calumet Montana donated $50,000 to the Sheriff Legacy Foundation, which Slaughter said earlier this fall will be used toward training to start this program and this year’s expenses.
Slaughter has said in multiple public meetings that it’s a budget priority for him so he was re-allocating funding in next year’s CCSO budget to absorb the program once the donated funds are depleted.
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The Great Falls Public Schools board voted unanimously during their Nov. 24 meeting to approve the concept of a reserve deputy being added to the existing school resource officer program but won’t approve implementation until interlocal agreements are drafted and approved.
Superintendent Heather Hoyer said that the proposal was meant to enhance the work of the five existing SROs, which are all under the Great Falls Police Department, by providing an extra set of hands.
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Under the proposal, the reserve deputy would be paid by CCSO but would be under the direct supervision of GFPD and would follow the same hiring process as existing SROs.
The plan is to start with one reserve deputy with a background in law enforcement who would work part time on a schedule coordinated by Sgt. Katie Cunningham, the GFPD officer who oversees the SRO program.
The move to approve the concept includes a requirement for quarterly board updates and the execution of the appropriate agreements between the city, county and school district.
Bill Bronson, school board member, moved in November to approve the concept of the program, on a pilot basis, directing staff to use the following requirements and guidelines for development of that concept:
- final approval is subject to preparation and approval of, at a minimum, interlocal agreements between the city and county, and where necessary CCSO, as well as a written memorandum of understanding with GFPS;
- final approval requires recognition and reflection of the existing program’s culture;
- any individual recruited, screened and hired must be consistent with current SRO hiring practices; must be completely sworn and under the direct supervision of GFPD SRO staff, to include school/activity assignment, training and evaluation;
- any individual hired must be able to meet all requirements of active GFPD officers, including screenings and background checks
- there must be an unambiguous statement addressing how any liabilities associated with the program would be handled, including indemnification and hold harmless provisions where appropriate;
- assuming approval of all appropriate agreements, the pilot program must include quarterly updates and evaluations to the board to monitor progress, assess effectiveness and make decisions regarding continuation, modification or termination.
Bronson said that it became apparent to him after discussions with law enforcement in recent weeks that they could only approve the concept during the Nov. 24 meeting and only its implementation once actual agreements were in place, as exist for the current SRO program.
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He said it wasn’t fair to GFPS staff or other agencies if the board failed to provide the specific direction needed in this instance and that from what he was hearing, all parties involved seemed to agree that these details needed to be worked out and in place.
Bronson said he appreciated Slaughter’s offer of assistance and was confident they’d have draft documents ready in the coming weeks.
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He said he knew some community members had expressed concern over the proposal, but that hopefully everyone could agree they have a responsibility to ensure school safety and any reasonable proposal and effort of cooperation among law enforcement was “something that we should wholeheartedly embrace.”
There was no public comment on the proposal during the Nov. 24 meeting.
