Bernardsville Police Chief says police school resource officer needed in Somerset Hills school district

December 15, 2009
Letter from Kevin Valentine,
Chief of Police, Bernardsville

Kudos to officials of the Bridgewater Police Department, Bridgewater Raritan School District and Township of Bridgewater for recognizing the important role Police School Resource Officers play in the safety and security of our public schools. Kudos to the students and faculty in the Bridgewater Raritan School District who embrace the presence of the School Resource Officers assigned there to protect them, teach them, mentor them and support them. Isn’t it about time that our elected municipal officials in the Somerset Hills and the Somerset Hills School District come to the same conclusion?

School Resource Officers are deployed in public and private schools throughout the State of New Jersey and across this great nation. There are countless published articles praising their efforts and success stories. There are endless testimonials by public officials, students, teachers and parents regarding the positive impact School Resource Officers have had on the school environment. Sadly, there was even a time when such experiences existed in our own local schools. This is currently not the case.

School Resource Officer duties vary from school to school. Generally speaking they provide security, safety, emergency planning, traffic control and law enforcement services to the schools and communities they serve. Additionally, many SRO’s instruct classes in personal safety, driver education, and constitutional law. They mentor students daily by interacting with students in the hallways, eating lunch with them, working with peer leader groups as well as at risk students. The D.A.R.E. and G.R.E.A.T. programs have been well received in schools across the country by students, parents and school officials alike. Having first hand experience, I know that one does not have to look far to see the resulting success and lives saved by police involvement in such a program. SRO’s are also in a position to provide valuable referrals to various social service resources as required and strive to provide needed support and assistance to those who
seek it.

Speaking of saving lives….It was recently reported that a student provided information to a School Resource Officer at Bridgewater Raritan High School that may possibly have saved the lives of countless children, teachers and staff members at that school. Had this act not occurred, had this trust not existed, had this officer not been there, I dread to think of the horror and sorrow that might have ensued. Thankfully, our schools in Somerset County are collectively well protected largely due to the efforts of Prosecutor Wayne Forrest, the Somerset County Police Chiefs, D.A.R.E. Officers, School Resource Officers and members of our various law enforcement agencies.

Throughout Somerset County there are School Resource Officers deployed in all but one of our school districts. I continue to question why is it that the Somerset Hills School District does not have one School Resource Officer. I may not know all the answers to this question, but I have a good idea where the problem lies. I do know one thing for sure. It is not for a lack of effort or desire to obtain such a position by the leadership of the Bernardsville Police Department. Unfortunately, a sad situation exists in that the Somerset Hills School District is the only school district in Somerset County without a School Resource Officer program.

I challenge our elected officials to address this issue and put jurisdictional issues aside. I challenge the members of our regional school district to recognize the moral responsibility they have to provide the collective financial resources from all of our school district communities to provide these services. I challenge school administrators to find time to allow School Resource Officers to teach programs such as D.A.R.E. I challenge the parents of our students to stand up and demand the same police services in our schools that currently exist throughout Somerset County. I challenge our school teachers and staff to consider the benefits to their personal safety that might result from SRO’s being deployed in our local schools. I challenge our local elected officials to lobby the School District to provide these services the same way the School District often lobbies municipal governments for support and services. Lastly, I challenge our local Police
Chiefs from our district communities to stand up and be heard regarding this matter.

Enough talking has occurred and too many back room discussions have proved futile. The not my job, not my town, not my problem attitude has no place in addressing this issue. The remedy for this current condition lies in the hands of the elected officials serving the Somerset Hills School District. I call on the School District to provide funding for local law enforcement services to Bernardsville Borough. This funding should be used to provide police services and fund a School Resource Officer position. If the elected officials in our School District fail to act on this responsibility, then our local municipal governments must step in to fund these critical services. Perhaps a review of the school budget by various elected municipal officials can find existing funds to be used for this purpose.

It is time for the citizens of our communities to demand action to help prevent the type of potentially destructive incident recently planned in Bridgewater from occurring in our schools. It will be a sad day if such an event occurs and I am left to explain why our elected and appointed officials did not do more to prevent such a thing from occurring. Let us get back to being the model we once were. The Bernardsville Police Department was the first to deploy a full time School Resource Officer in Somerset County; we now have the only high school without one.