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Olmsted Falls approves School Resource Officer agreements for Falls Lenox and St. Mary
Summary
Council unanimously adopted interagency agreements placing full-time School Resource Officers at Falls Lenox and St. Mary of the Falls; schools will share salary costs for the 10-month school assignments and the department will backfill any vacancies via civil service.
Olmsted Falls City Council on Sept. 9 unanimously adopted ordinances authorizing interagency agreements to place School Resource/D.A.R.E./community liaison officers at Falls Lenox and at St. Mary of the Falls. Mayor James P. Graven asked council to approve both pieces of legislation "in order to keep the children in our community safe," and the measures passed on 5–0 votes after suspension of the readings.
Police Chief Odis Rogers told council the SROs will be full-time members of the department and that each school will pay half of the officer's salary for the 10 months the officer is assigned to campus. "Any time we can put an officer in uniform in a positive environment with children he is all for it," Rogers said, describing the program as both protective and a long-term community benefit. Rogers said the department intends to backfill any vacated patrol position and will seek civil-service approval to post and hire for that opening.
The ordinances were adopted under emergency suspension of the three-reading rule, allowing immediate effect. No changes to department headcount beyond the civil-service hiring and backfill process were approved at the meeting. Council did not record objections or negative votes on the SRO ordinances; both measures passed by roll-call polls of 5 ayes, 0 nays.
