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Forest Grove SRO reports 273 calls in first 50 school days; staffing limits strain proactive work
Summary
Officer Von McBee told the district board that from Sept. 4–Nov. 26 the Forest Grove schools logged 273 calls for service, 166 assigned to the SRO; he described time‑consuming investigations, reliance on patrol backup, and constrained capacity that limits classroom education and proactive outreach.
Officer Von McBee, the school resource officer assigned to Forest Grove School District, told the board on Dec. 10 that the district recorded 273 calls for service between Sept. 4 and Nov. 26 and that 166 of those calls were assigned to him. "I've been able to respond to 166 of those calls," he said, adding that the remaining calls were handled by other patrol officers when he was tied up on investigations or presentations.
Von McBee said the distribution of calls places heavy demand on secondary schools: roughly one‑third of SRO‑assigned calls occurred at the high school, and another third were off campus (home visits, hospital responses or meetings with outside agencies). He reported writing 37 police reports and 35 supplemental reports during that period and described common incident types as harassment (verbal threats, hair‑pulling, non‑injury physical incidents), DHS investigations, criminal mischief, fights and social‑media‑related cases.
The officer described investigations as time‑intensive, noting that some social‑media and alleged abuse cases require phone forensics or hospital records and can take weeks. He said a school‑district policy requiring parental consent limits the ability to interview possible suspects on campus without scheduling a parent meeting, which can delay investigations. Von McBee also said the single‑officer model is a constraint: "With one SRO for roughly 6,600 students and staff, it is a challenge," he said, noting that his availability means patrol officers must respond to concurrent incidents.
Board members asked for comparative data for past years; Von McBee said the department collects historic call information and offered to provide year‑to‑year comparisons at a future meeting. Several directors praised the officer’s community outreach and noted that his presence had reduced some recurring problems in school facilities. Von McBee described plans for more classroom presentations on topics such as fentanyl/drug awareness, social media safety and driving laws, but said those proactive programs are difficult to schedule while responding to incidents.
Board members discussed options to protect the officer’s time for proactive work, including scheduling dedicated classroom presentations and exploring whether adding a second SRO is feasible within budget constraints. Von McBee said a second SRO would allow splitting coverage across schools, reduce travel back and forth, and improve capacity to conduct follow‑up investigations and educational programs.
The board took no formal action on staffing at the meeting; members asked staff to return with comparative data and additional details about options and costs.
