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Romulus police officers describe SRO duties as district program nears renewal
Summary
Romulus Police Department chief and school resource officer presented SRO duties, prevention focus and safety work; superintendent said she would support renewal pending board approval.
Romulus Police Department leaders briefed the Board of Education on June 9 about the school resource officer (SRO) program as the contract comes up for renewal.
Chief Bynes told the board an SRO’s primary roles include emergency response, mentoring, addressing campus crime and serving as an informal counselor. “The 4 primary roles of the SRO,” Bynes said, are emergency response, mentoring, campus disorder response and informal counseling; he added that “if it’s done right” an SRO can help keep students “out of the system.”
Officer Rodney Cofield, the district’s assigned SRO, described day‑to‑day duties beyond uniformed patrol. Cofield said he conducts wellness checks, supports parent meetings, attends school events, delivers ALICE training, manages truancy citations (he reported “95 plus citations for this year”) and works with other agencies on gang‑ or student‑related intelligence. Cofield also described practical security work he has helped implement, including night locks, opaque window film, room numbers on exterior windows and officer key‑card access to speed response during a lockdown.
Superintendent Dr. Eve Edmondson praised Cofield’s on‑site support through several recent incidents and said she would continue the working relationship with the police department. Edmondson said she would “sign that as long as the board approves that,” referring to renewal of the SRO arrangement.
Neither the board nor staff took a formal vote on SRO contract renewal at the June 9 meeting; staff presented the program overview and committed to continued coordination with school leaders and law enforcement.
