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Residents urge Canton commissioners to restore police staffing and keep school resource officer
Summary
Multiple residents and several people with law-enforcement experience urged the Canton City Commission to reverse recent reductions in police staffing and to preserve the school resource officer (SRO) position, citing safety, response times and personal incidents. Commissioners discussed the concerns but did not vote to reinstate advertised vacancies at this meeting.
Dozens of Canton residents used the public-comment period to press the City Commission to maintain police staffing and keep the school resource officer in place, saying the SRO and local officers provide essential safety and emergency response.
The most direct pleas came from current and former law-enforcement personnel and parents. "Having a school resource officer at school has made me feel safe," said Claire Kathaman, an 18-year-old Canton resident. Former Canton officer Bob Delt told commissioners, "Having a school resource officer is a good thing," and urged elected officials to preserve previously budgeted positions rather than remove them.
Speakers described specific incidents they said illustrated the SRO’s and local officers’ value: Vernon Gabers recounted officers safeguarding a lost child and assisting after assaults; Rosalinda said officers kept a 10-year-old with Down syndrome safe when he wandered from her home; and Stanley Gustafson, who has law-enforcement experience, warned that "taking away something that's already in the budget...makes absolutely no sense at all," saying reductions would lengthen response times and place greater strain on remaining officers.
Several speakers challenged the commission’s use of a community survey to justify cuts. Chad Skiles presented survey numbers, saying the city sent 1,182 surveys and received 365 back; he said the proportion of respondents who raised policing concerns represented a small share of the total population and asked the commission to reconsider a decision made two weeks earlier.
Commissioners acknowledged the public remarks during commissioner dialogue. One commissioner said they had met with police leadership since the last vote and that many concerns had been addressed; another reiterated a fiscal focus and urged stakeholders, including the school district, to share costs for an officer who spends substantial time on campus. The record shows no formal vote at this meeting to advertise a vacancy or to restore the previously budgeted position.
What happens next: residents asked the commission to reconsider the prior action taken two weeks earlier. Commissioners moved into commissioner dialogue and then into executive session; the meeting closed without a recorded motion to reinstate advertising for a vacancy or to change the personnel action taken at the prior meeting.
