There is a possibility a school resource officer could be coming to Westlock, but it won’t likely happen until the 2015-2016 school year at the earliest.
Coun. Robin Brett brought up the issue at the April 22 town council meeting as a way of getting it back onto council’s radar.
He said Westlock County and the Pembina Hills school division support having an officer in Westlock’s schools, but the town has been fairly non-committal.
After discussing the issue, councillors voted 6-1 to support in principle the idea of bringing in a school resource officer, and look at the 2014 budget to see if it’s possible to find the money for the program.
A school resource officer is an RCMP officer who is assigned to work in the schools, just like Const. Morocco Johnson in Barrhead. The idea, Brett said, is to use the officer as “a pro-active step towards addressing youth crime and preventing major issues from ever getting to that state.”
“It isn’t an RCMP officer patrolling the hallways looking to bust kids, and it’s not just an expensive D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) presenter,” he added, explaining the goal is to allow students to develop a positive relationship with the RCMP and interact with the police or a similar authority figure in a positive light.
The approximate cost of a school resource officer is $140,000, said Coun. David Truckey. That cost is split evenly between the school division and the municipality.
Considering the county is in favour of the officer, the cost to the town would be approximately $35,000.
For Brett, it’s a cost that is well worth it.
“An honest issue is the cost of the position,” he said. “But, it’s been my experience that you find a way of affording what you value and what you feel is important.”
The lone dissenting vote on council was mayor Bruce Lennon, who believes the idea of a school resource officer has merit, but said it’s not something the town should be paying for.
“My personal view is this is an expense that should be borne by the school division,” he said. “If they feel they need a resource officer within their school division, then they should allocate funds for it and pay for it.”
Lennon added the issue is a bit complicated when it comes to funding it with the current funding arrangement — the county is only interested in paying for it if the town is as well.
That raises the question whether it would be a 50/50 split or based on student population per municipality. That would have to be sorted out with the county.
