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Silverton police outline SRO role; city and school district begin talks on second officer
Summary
Silverton Police described the duties, funding arrangement and workload for the district's school resource officer (SRO). City councilors signaled interest in funding a second SRO but emphasized budget constraints; the school board said it values the position and will discuss further during budget and planning work sessions.
Todd Engstrom, chief of police in Silverton, told the Silver Falls School District board and Silverton City Council that the SRO position dates back to the 1997-98 school year and was restored in 2015 after budget cuts. The department currently operates a single dedicated SRO who works across the district's neighborhood schools as well as high school and middle school campuses. "They conduct active threat training ... lockdown and lockout drills" and provide a visible role model on campus, Engstrom said.
Engstrom outlined how the city bills the district monthly for the officer's wages and benefits during the nine-month school season. "The school district pays 75% of the position," he said, and city staff provided the board an example average monthly invoice of about $11,500. For the three summer months the officer returns to general patrol and the city does not bill the district.
The department said the SRO position is a specialty assignment on a four-year rotation among a small force: when fully staffed the department has 12 officers (11 at the time of the meeting), with three specialty slots including the SRO, a traffic position and a detective. Engstrom and officers emphasized the difficulty for one officer to cover multiple neighborhood schools; he said JJ Monroe and Sean Aljets had performed that work and that calls the SRO handles can originate at school or in the community.
Councilors and board members discussed the possibility of adding a second SRO. Councilor Jason Frylinger said the council is "interested in adding the second SRO" as the city moves into budget season but asked whether the school district wanted and could afford a second position. Councilor Kyle Palmer suggested the city might adjust its share "so there's less burden on the school district." School Board members and Superintendent Kim Dowd said they see value in a second SRO but must weigh it against other staffing priorities such as teachers, aides and counselors. Dowd said the district will discuss priorities at an integrated planning work session and asked for public and staff input.
Several school board members and administrators asked for more detailed statistics about the SRO calls and a breakdown of call types to inform budgeting and priorities. Board members also suggested that the city and district look at the existing intergovernmental agreement, memorandum of understanding and operational plan for the program to ensure they are current.
The city suggested exploring grant funding as one avenue to pay for safety improvements; a councilor said he planned to apply for a TOPS grant in the spring to fund security features that could complement or reduce personnel needs.
The discussion concluded with both bodies agreeing to continue conversations. "We're gonna let them tell us kinda what the next step might be in terms of looking at it from a price value and that you all can think about it," a city representative said.
