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Sheriff's Department applies for COPS grants with plans to place SROs in county schools

The Franklin County Sheriff's Department has applied for a federal grant that could open the door for school resource officers in Franklin County Schools.

Sheriff Shannon Oliver told the Franklin County Commission at its July 10 work session that the department had applied for a Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant in the amount of $125,000. The grant would be paid over three years and would be earmarked for a school resource officer (or officers) to be shared by Vina, Tharptown, Belgreen and East Franklin Schools.

The grant provides for 75/25 funding, meaning the sheriff's department, along with the assistance of Franklin County Schools, would be responsible for 25 percent of the total grant amount.

“We will try and work out the twenty-five percent between our department and Franklin County Schools,” Oliver said.

Oliver said he expects to hear a decision on the grant application by October. If it's approved, school resource officers could be in place by the spring semester of 2018, he said.

“Our goal, if we get the grant, is to hire one full-time officer and, if the money's there, hire another part-time," Oliver said. "Either way, they will go to the rural schools in the county. The idea would be for the officer to spend time at several schools and be active going from campus to campus."

Commissioners supported the grant application and said it would fill a need that county schools have faced for some time now.

“The presence of a lawman going in and out of the school makes a difference,” said commissioner David Hester. “Vina and Belgreen are sort of out there on their own, as are Tharptown and East Franklin. This would make a big difference in school safety.”

Franklin County Schools superintendent of education Greg Hamilton worked with Oliver in preparing the grant. Hamilton, who pledged during his campaign to address the need for school resource officers, said there would be a memorandum of understanding as part of the COPS grant stating that the officers would only be school resource officers and could not be pulled from the schools to perform other duties.

Hamilton said the sheriff would post the jobs and set the salary, and the officers would work under the sheriff; at the same time, they would be the county school system's resource officers.

“This has been and remains extremely important to me, and we're trying to do everything we can to get it started,” Hamilton said. “The sheriff has been on board with this entire process. We had deputies on our campuses this spring when it was possible. Sheriff Oliver should be commended for it. We appreciate his willingness to help us, along with the support of the Franklin County Commission.”

With his system facing severe financial issues, Hamilton said the COPS grant presented the best avenue to place school resource officers into Franklin County schools.

“Finances are tight across the board," Hamilton said. "We're keeping our fingers crossed that this is going to come to fruition. If it doesn't, it's not going to end there. I won't stop until we get school resource officers."

According to www.cops.usdoj.gov, approximately $137 million in funding is available for the COPS Hiring Program to hire and re-hire entry level career law enforcement officers in order to “preserve jobs, increase community policing capacities and support crime prevention efforts.”

Grants provide 75 percent of the approved entry-level salaries and fringe benefits of each newly hired officer, up to $125,000 over 36 months. Applicants must identify “a specific crime and disorder problem/focus area” and explain how CHP funding would be used to implement community policing approaches to that problem/focus area.

The deadline for applications came on July 10, 2017.

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