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Garland Police: Senate Bill 3 changed school security mix; city to add floaters so every elementary campus has armed coverage
Summary
Garland Police said they will convert the Montclair Elementary SRO and one other elementary SRO into district 'floaters' so sworn officers can respond to law‑enforcement calls at schools covered by district hired armed security officers (ASOs) without leaving the campus unattended.
Garland Police briefed the council on how Senate Bill 3 (2023) changed campus security and explained short‑term staffing steps to provide law enforcement response at elementary schools.
Chief staff and police presenters said SB3 requires that every campus have at least one “armed security officer” during school hours; the school district met that requirement by hiring 28 armed security officers (ASOs) and the district continues to employ commissioned School Resource Officers (SROs). Because ASOs are not commissioned peace officers, Garland Police said a gap existed: when an ASO observes or receives a welfare or law‑enforcement incident, an SRO currently would leave their assigned campus to respond, leaving that campus temporarily without a sworn officer.
To minimize that coverage gap for the coming school year, Garland Police and the district agreed to reassign the officer based at Montclair Elementary (the school closing for renovation) into a district floater role, and to convert one additional elementary SRO into a floater. That will create two district SRO floaters who can respond to law‑enforcement calls at ASO‑covered schools without depleting the remaining campus‑based SROs. The city said the plan increases overall coverage (every campus will have an armed presence and there will be floaters assigned to respond to law‑enforcement calls) and is scalable depending on call volumes.
Chiefs and staff noted that Garland ISD pays the overtime for SROs and that the district bears the cost for the ASOs. Staff provided a 10,000‑foot view of program costs: GISD funds roughly 65% of the combined program costs (including overtime) and the city funds about 35%. The police chief told council the city would monitor call volumes, evaluate whether one or two floaters meet need, and return with updates.
Council members asked how floaters would be selected and whether the eventual reopening of Montclair and reconstruction plans would change assignments; the chief said selection and future reassignment will be a joint city‑district decision and will be revisited after initial implementation and data collection.
