By Terry Witt – Special to Spotlight
The mass murder of 17 students and staff at a Broward County School on Feb. 14, prompted Chiefland City Commissioners Monday to consider employing two additional school resource officers for local schools.
One Levy County school resource officer currently protects the three campuses in the city – Chiefland High School, Chiefland Middle School and Chiefland Elementary School.
Whispering Winds Charter School, which is considered a public school, is also within the city limits of Chiefland.
Sheriff Bobby McCallum and the Levy County School District have asked the state legislature to fund nine additional school resource officers in Levy County, or one for each school, which would bring the total number of officers to 15.
The county currently employs six school resource officers for the 12 public schools. The sheriff’s office funds four of the positions, the school board two. One of those six officers is assigned to Chiefland schools.
Gov. Rick Scott has promised $500 million of additional funding to beef up school security statewide but the commissioners said if the money doesn’t result in the hiring of more school resource officers locally they would be willing to hire two additional officers to protect Chiefland schools.
They said the city would apply for a Justice Department grant through the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) to hire the resource officers. The city would eventually have to pay for the salaries of the two officers when the grant money ran out. Commissioners said they would be willing to provide those funds.
“I kind of feel we need to help out,” said Commissioner Rollin Hudson.
Commissioner Don Lawrence said the commission will take a “wait and see” attitude as they watch events unfold in Tallahassee. His fellow commissioners agreed with the plan.
Police Chief Scott Anderson was in support of the commission plan to add two school resource officers. Anderson said his department can respond to Chiefland schools within two minutes. He said four or five officers can be dispatched, but a lot can happen in that short span of time. He said it’s best to have an armed officer in the school building that can confront of the shooter.
Many of the city commissioners said they favored arming teachers to protect students. Anderson said he would support arming and training teachers on how to fire a weapon.
When commissioners were asked if a school teacher could be counted on to confront and kill someone murdering students, Anderson and Officer Jay Bolton said the purpose of arming a teacher wouldn’t be to confront the gunman.
“The main thing is not to confront a shooter but rather to hide in the classroom and defend the children,” said city police Officer Jay Bolton.
Anderson said his department will soon run a live shooter drill using paint balls instead of live ammunition.
The police chief said the sheriff’s deputy on duty in Broward County on the day of the shooting was nearing retirement and decided it wasn’t worth losing his life to confront an active shooter. The deputy was on duty at the school when the shooting started.
President Donald Trump has advocated arming school teachers in an effort to protect students from killers.
There have been 25 public school mass killings since the Columbine High School murders on April 20, 1999 in Jefferson County, Colorado.
IN OTHER BUSINESS:
• Commissioners voted to apply for a United States Department of Agriculture grant to purchase four additional police SUV patrol vehicles. The grant will pay $140,595 and the city’s share of the cost is $46,865.
• City Manager Mary Ellzey said she has talked to Duke Energy about replacing burned out street lights. The company has agreed to replace existing lights with LED lights that use less electricity. Duke Energy will begin replacing lights on major roadways. Ellzey also plans to contact Central Florida Electric Cooperative about the Co-op replacing its street lights.
• Commissioners approved Anderson replacing four body cameras for police officers at a cost of $2,210. The money will come from the Law Enforcement Trust Fund. Mayor Betty Walker said she has heard no complaints since the department began using body cameras. Anderson said a body camera on Officer Kyle Schultz recorded audio the night he chased a suspect into the woods. He said the audio will convict the man.
• The board also gave Anderson permission to purchase wireless printers for patrol vehicles. The printers will speed up the time it takes for officers to distribute accident exchange forms, give traffic tickets, arrest reports and other functions.
• Commissioners gave Fire Chief James Harris authority to purchase five new 2.5 inch in diameter fire hoses and five new 1.75 inch in diameter fire hoses. The total cost of the hoses is $3,201. The money will come from Harris’s operating budget.
• Commissioners renewed City Attorney Norm Fugate’s contract for the remainder of this budget year. The city typically approves a new contract as the start of the budget year in September, but Hurricane Irma captured everyone’s attention last September and the contract wasn’t renewed. Fugate receives $750 per month to sit through commissioner meeting, consult with commissioners when needed and perform legal analysis when asked. He charges $200 per hour for additional services; his son Woodrow Blake Fugate receives $175 per hour when he works for the city and the firm receives $250 per hour for handling litigation. Norm Fugate’s one-year contract will come up for renewal in September.
Photo by Terry Witt: Police Chief Scott Anderson addresses city commissioners on a wide variety of subjects including hiring school resource officers to protect local schools.
City of Chiefland Regular Meeting February 26, 2018
Posted February 26, 2018
