The Alexandria Police Department is hiring a School Resource Officer, also known as an SRO, to work in the Campbell County School District.
An SRO is a sworn law enforcement officer who has specialized training to work with children at a school site. The officer is employed through a contract between a local law enforcement agency and a school district. Kentucky schools must have their own armed school resource officers after Gov. Andy Beshear signed the School Safety and Resiliency Act into law last year.
According to LINK nky partner WCPO, some districts, such as Newport Independent Schools and Bellevue Independent Schools, are finding it difficult to fill the mandated position, which is not state-funded.
Alexandria Police Chief Lucas Cooper said at last week’s Alexandria Council meeting that their SRO position is still open, which led to a conversation about the lengthy process of hiring new recruits and the importance of officer retention.
The department is currently in the process of making an offer to a new recruit.
“Just to give you guys a heads up on how long this process is taking, this young man probably tested for us, I’d say, three or four months ago; we didn’t have an opening at the time,” he said. “We did have an opening come about. We started him and made a conditional offer. He’s now eligible to be hired and sent to the academy.”
The kicker?
The next available date for the recruit to attend is Feb. 11, 2024.
“So those are the kind of turnaround times we’re looking at right now on sending new recruits to the academy,” Cooper said.
Cooper said the recruit is more than six months into the process but won’t be out on the street by himself until this time or later next year; the new recruit is also not eligible to serve in the SRO position because he’s not a certified officer.
“I think it speaks to the importance of, as an organization, trying to retain the people that we have,” Cooper said. “Because when we do lose bodies, it’s a very long process to replace them now.”
Cooper said there isn’t lateral movement like in the past with officers going from agency to agency. He said they also previously didn’t start officers until a couple of weeks before their academy date, and over the last few years, that has turned into a month out.
“We’ve been doing that, and the last time we made somebody wait this long, they found another job in between and left,” Cooper said.
The academy modified its rules in December, Cooper said. Recruits will complete 80-90 hours of online training before arriving at the academy.
“It kind of benefits us in that if we factor into them completing those 90 hours, plus getting their first four weeks of training out of the way, it makes sense for us to start them,” he said.
The recruit will start Nov. 1, giving them time on the job to complete training and reading policy ahead of shipping off to the academy.
Here is the SRO position as outlined on the Alexandria Police Department’s website:
- Must be a certified police officer retired through CERS
- $45,000-$65,000 annually based on 1560 hours
- 10 paid personal leave days a year
- Work in accordance with Campbell County Schools calendar
- All uniforms and equipment provided
- Take home cruiser
Applications can be submitted in person or electronically to rnorthcutt@alexandriaky.org.
