HARRISBURG - The city and police department are proposing bringing back school resource officers for the city's schools for the first time in seven years.
There's one instant benefit Harrisburg police see in having school resource officers around to send a message to the troublemakers at school.
“[It’s] the fear of an officer being in the school,” Capt. Gabriel Olivera of the Harrisburg Bureau of Police said. “As we've said here tonight, this isn't the first time we've done the program. We were in the schools for many years and we've learned from all the things that we did in the past to make them better.”
Harrisburg schools had school resource officers when they were under city control from 2000 to 2009, but reduced funding after the district became independent again signaled the demise of the program.
Now the city is proposing a pilot program, covering two school resource officers to patrol the city's schools for the next school year.
“I think the benefits would be building the relationships with the children in our district,” school district board president Danielle Robinson said. “Some of the drawbacks would be some of the children not really trusting the police because of their personal interactions.”
The proposal has skeptics. It was discussed last year but ultimately the board rejected the plan, and there are several unanswered questions from school district officials.
“Who is in charge? Do we defer to police officers or is our security team in charge? If a fight breaks out is this listed as a felony or is it a suspension?” Robinson asked.
Both Harrisburg police Chief Thomas Carter and Captain Olivera were school resource officers in Harrisburg at one point in their careers, and they say they will keep the conversation going.
“It was a program where we were able to build up a lot of relationships with the students of this city,” Olivera said. “Some of those relationships I still have now. They're lifelong.”
The district has also discussed having an internal police department in the past, and it may still be an option the district could look at again, Robinson said.