KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – While some groups have opposed stationing police officers in local schools, local education and police officials have no problems with it, in fact they welcome it.
Kalamazoo Public Schools have had them for decades. Now the Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners has approved an agreement with Comstock, Climax-Scotts and Galesburg-Augusta schools to supply School Resource Officers.
One concern county commissioners did have was the shortage of deputies on staff, and whether this would cut into road patrols. Sheriff Richard Fuller says they are taking steps to prioritize calls, so only those that really need a deputy on site are dispatched.
Fuller says they have been supplying an SRO to the Gull Lake Community Schools for seven years. The primary role is educational, with security secondary.
County Commission Chair John Taylor says everyone these days is more concerned about violence, including schools.
The contracts call for Comstock to get one deputy, and for the other two districts to share a second deputy.
The county and the school districts will share the cost for the officers.
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