GPD awarded COPS grant for school resource officer

The village of Greenfield has been awarded a $125,000 Community Oriented Policing grant, which will allow the Greenfield Police Department to hire an additional officer to handle matters at the school campus in Greenfield.

Greenfield Police Chief Tim Hester said that Greenfield learned about the award this week and that they were luckily to have received the grant.

"We are very fortunate to be one of only a dozen cities in the entire state to be chosen for this grant," Hester said. "We received a similar grant in 2009, and it was a huge help to the department. This grant, in particular, is going to alleviate the burden of patrol officers responding to the campus and free up regular officers for other duties. But, it also takes another step to ensure the safety of students while attending school, which is paramount to us."

According to the COPS program, which is out of the U.S. Department of Justice, the grant is "to hire military veterans or rehire laid off officers or officers scheduled for lay-off on a specific future date on or after the official grant award start date."

The program's website states that, "Community policing is a philosophy that promotes organizational strategies, which support the systematic use of partnerships and problem-solving techniques, to proactively address the immediate conditions that give rise to public safety issues such as crime, social disorder and fear of crime."

"When we applied for the grant, we specified it would be used for a school resource officer," Hester said. "The intent is to appoint a qualified person who had been in the military to have the qualified service."

The officer will address any issues related to the campuses of McClain High School, Greenfield Middle School and Greenfield Elementary. 

"The officer will be in charge of the safety of the students while attending school and during school hours. He will handle any complaints generated out of the school and deal with any unruly juveniles or truancy," Hester said.

Hester said that the department has candidates for consideration for the position and will be interviewing people in the next few days.

"My intention is to have the person in place on the first day of school," Hester said. "We will want to do some training before we put the person in that position, which we hope to accomplish over the summer."

While there is not a "huge" number of calls coming from the school campus, Hester said there is enough to keep an officer busy. But it also will allow the department to foster a better relationship with the community and the young citizens of the village.

"There are a significant number of calls to the school and range in a wide variety, from disorderly conduct, to students who may possess contraband, and truancy, obviously," Hester said. "I wouldn't say there is a huge amount of calls, but there is a significant number that do require the time of a patrolling officer."

With a resource officer handling school calls, the other GPD officers will be free to handle other issues in the village.

In addition to Greenfield, the following Ohio municipalities received the grant: Akron, Canton, Cuyahoga County, McArthur, Mingo Junction, Newton Falls Townshp, Portsmouth, Russells Point, Toledo and Youngstown.

Hester said he thinks the department's focus on the Greenfield Exempted Village Schools was instrumental in obtaining the funding.

"I think because the grant is geared toward community oriented policing, the position really fits the criteria of the grant," Hester said. "I think that having an officer at the school will be very beneficial in a number of ways, not only for the safety and security of the students and the public but for the students to see a positive side of law enforcement. They will interact with a police officer every day, get to know that officer, and that is really what the program is looking for."

Because the grant requires a $43,531 match over three years, Hester said the village is working with the school district on splitting the costs.

"We are in discussions with the school superintendent and the school board about how we could potentially divide the money so it all doesn't come from the village treasury," Hester said. "We looking to equally divide it between the two entities. That will cover salaries and fringe benefits, as well."