Sheriff James Brumfield told North Pike officials that funding problems will prevent him from contributing to the cost of a school resource officer for the next school year.
“We face not having a school resource officer next year,” Superintendent Dennis Penton told school trustees Thursday. “We can’t be without a resource officer.”
McComb and South Pike schools are in towns, and law enforcement assistance is closer if needed. But all of North Pike’s schools are outside of city limits, leaving the sheriff’s department as the only source for police assistance.
Penton said district officials had met with Chief Deputy Brad Bellipanni and other department officials late last year to discuss continuing the resource officer program with the district under the district’s Mississippi Community-Oriented Policing Services in Schools, or MCOPS, grant.
District officials were informed then that the department budget might prevent continuation of the program, Penton said, but then Brumfield called Penton during the Christmas break and said the program would end at the beginning of 2020.
Penton said Brumfield later reversed himself and said the program would end at the end of the school budget year in June, but the department might continue to participate if the district paid 100% of the salary and benefits.
Penton said it was unclear whether the sheriff’s department or the board of supervisors was canceling the program, but two supervisors he spoke to said there had been no change on the part of the board of supervisors.
“The previous sheriff was able to fund it, so why can’t they fund it now?” Penton said. “I’m sure there’s a rational explanation, but I’m not sure what it is. We need an SRO next year.”
He said the district could formally request of the sheriff’s department and the board of supervisors to continue the program next year, or — if the district has to pay 100% of the costs — employ its own SRO.
Without an SRO, “the uncertainty frightens me,” Penton said. “We’ve had no major incidents, but we’ve had the potential for something to happen.”
“When we made this agreement, didn’t the board of supervisors raise the sheriff’s budget the amount to do it?” board member Scott Campbell asked.
Penton said he didn’t remember, but noted that the officer worked in other places for the sheriff’s department when school wasn’t in session.
Board member Etta Taplin wondered what liability the district might have if it footed the entire bill for an officer otherwise employed by the sheriff’s department if the district goes that route.
She said the agreement was also a way to enhance the sheriff’s department by helping to fund another position.
Penton said safety dictates having an officer available.
“If we have a fight and need to call the sheriff’s department, it could take them an hour to get there, if they’re busy,” Penton said. “There are numerous safety advantages to having an officer stationed here. It’s good for our students.
“We need some direction on how to proceed ... there’s some bureaucracy to get through to hire an officer, or if we’re going to continue (with the sheriff’s department), we need a commitment from the the county.”
Taplin suggested that two or three board members meet with the sheriff to discuss the matter, and the board voted to do that.
Board president Jamie Jackson asked that district officials ascertain the costs of their options for presentation when the board considers the matter again.
