Granville County Public Schools pushes for more school resource officers

The Granville County school district needs more school resource officers.

Both Sheriff Robert Fountain Jr. and Superintendent Stan Winborne discussed the issue during the county commissioners’ retreat Feb. 23.

On paper, Granville County is almost fully staffed, with only one vacancy. However, the National Association of School Resource Officers recommends “that school districts and communities deploy at the very minimum one School Resource Officer in every school.”

The district does not currently meet that recommendation.

“However, if you look at our total school system here, we have several campuses that are not covered by SROs in a full-time capacity,” said Keith King, the safety and security coordinator.

The district has nine funded positions. More than half of those positions are funded by the county and the rest are funded by the district and state grants. Currin said the district has six school resource officers from the Granville County Sheriff’s Office, two from Creedmoor police and one from Butner Public Safety.

Each high school has a full-time school resource officer on campus. That is not the case for its elementary schools.

“Putting SROs in elementary schools, you don’t have the high call or crime volume, but you have a window to make a positive impression as a law enforcement officer with that child,” King said.

In fact, he said he believes connecting with elementary-aged students could help mitigate the growing issue of juvenile crime.

“I think giving them a mentor early on, not just seeing a badge and uniform, but seeing a person – we call it ‘humanizing the badge’. I think that gives them an additional role model to stay on the right path and not fall into delinquency,” King said.

With its one vacancy, the district has eight school resource officers among its 16 campuses. The district would need seven more school resource officers to meet that recommendation. The district spokesperson, Courtney Currin, said it would cost roughly $480,000 to have a dedicated school resource officer at each school.

King also noted that the struggle for local law enforcement agencies to find and keep officers has a direct impact on the number of school resource officers in the schools.

“The broader picture is recruiting and retaining law enforcement officers in general,” he said.

King said the school resource officers are also required to go through additional training and certifications beyond basic training.

“Officers need more experience before they could set in the role of an SRO,” he explained.