A three-year federal grant, totaling $500,000, to be used to pay the salary and benefits for four school resource officers in South Brunswick schools was accepted by the Township Council Tuesday
By: David Weinstein
A three-
year federal grant, totaling
$500,000, to be used to pay the sal
ary and benefits for four school re
source officers in South Brunswick
schools was accepted by the Town
ship Council Tuesday
night.
Police
Lt. Ron Schmalz applied for the
grant in April 1999. The depart
ment was awarded the grant last
month.
There
are three school resource officers in
district schools. This year, the pro
gram was funded by a federal
grant, received by the department
in 1999. An SRO is assigned to a
school and is expected to not only
police the school, but also to pro
vide knowledge on law enforce
ment in classrooms, guidance to
students and faculty and work as
part of the school communi
ty.
The grant
will expand the program to four of
ficers.
Money
remaining from the 1999 grant after
this year will not be used for the
salary and benefits of the existing
SROs, but will be used to supple
ment the department’s Community
Policing program, Chief Michael
Paquette said Wednes
day.
Council
man Ted Van Hessen said he had
no concerns with accepting the
grant.
“Do it.
Congratulations, wonderful,
grand,” said Mr. Van Hessen. “This
is an opportunity to further diversi
fy our depart
ment.”
While
the latest grant allows for the hiring
of four officers, Chief Paquette said
this does not mean there will be
seven SRO’s in the district’s
schools next year.
&n
bsp; One SRO will
be added, and three other officers
will be hired and added to the
force, he said. All four new offi
cers, though, will have their salary
and benefits federally funded for
three year
s.
The newest
SRO will likely be assigned to the
district’s elementary schools. Cur
rently, there is one SRO at the high
school, one at Crossroads Middle
School and the Upper Elementary
School and one that makes the
rounds at the district’s seven ele
mentary
schools.
Capt.
Mike Marosy said hiring new offi
cers will allow the department to
put more officers on the streets,
without taking away from the SRO
pro
gram.
Since
April, the department has been
awaiting approval from the town
ship to implement the grant and to
begin the hiring process. Council
approval was necessary because the
township will assume salary and
benefit requirements when the
grant expires in
2003.
In addi
tion, some Township Council
members said they were concerned
about the burden three new officers
may present to the township budget
once the grant expi
red.
A further
stipulation of accepting the grant is
that the officers remain employed
at the end of three year
s.
The base
salary for an officer hired and paid
with funds from this grant will be
$27,869 in the first year. Benefits
including retirement compensation
and health insurance, which total
almost $15,000, bring the first-year
total to
$42,778.
The
second-year number will be
$56,561, with a base salary of
$39,787. The cost per officer will
be $61,046, with a base salary of
$43,665 in the third year.
&n
bsp; Hiring minority
and women police officers is not a
stipulation of the grant. But it is
something some council members
are concerned
about.
While
no new officers have been hired,
Capt. Marosy said Tuesday night,
at the top of the department’s can
didate list are several minority can
didates.
He
also said that the department’s re
cruitment of minority officers,
which has been a strategic goal
since the early 1990s, is coming to
fruition.
“If
two minority officers are hired, that
will bring our percentage to 11 per
cent, and we will continue to work
hard to further diversify the depart
ment,” he
said.
Mayor
Debra Johnson acknowledged that
more minorities are being hired and
sought after by the department, but
said she would like to see an even
bigger percentage, one that clearly
represents the makeup of the town
ship’s population, of minorities and
women in the depart
ment.
“I don’t
think we can go overboard on any
program that recruits minorities and
women. We are not now at our
highest complement,” the mayor
said.
Council
woman Carol Barrett, in saying she
approves of the grant, also voiced
concerns that more minority and fe
male officers need to be hire
d.
“We need
to work on these numbers,” she
said.
“My
concern, and I hope we can work
on this, is that we can add some di
versity to the department. This is an
area I believe we really need to
work on,” Ms. Barrett said.