Central Bucks West to get a school resource officer after all

The Central Bucks School District and the Bucks County Sheriff’s Department are partnering to place a school resource officer at Central Bucks West High School.

The county commissioners unanimously supported the agreement during a salary board meeting last week. The school district will fully fund the union position, which pays the deputy sheriff $33.92 per hour.

Following a training class for SROs, the deputy is expected to be in place when school begins Sept. 5, said Bucks County Sheriff Fred Harran, a strong advocate for the program.

When the Central Bucks Regional Police Commission recently rejected the district’s request to add a law enforcement officer to the Doylestown school, the school board brokered the five-year contract with Harran.

Citing a long list of mass shootings in U.S. schools, Harran said, “There’s a great need for the program.”

Bucks County, he noted, is the fourth county in Pennsylvania to add a deputy sheriff as an SRO to a school.

The agreement “is an incredible opportunity for the county and the district to man their third school,” said Harran.

Warrington’s CB South has an SRO and negotiations are underway for an officer at CB East in Buckingham. The deputy will be a county employee and report to the sheriff’s office, the sheriff said.

While all the commissioners supported the plan, the chair and vice chair added a few comments following the vote.

Vice chair of the county commissioners, Diane Ellis-Marseglia, criticized the CBRPD commission, saying, “they should have this, but they’re not stepping up.”

In a letter to CBSD’s director of operations, the police commission cited staff constraints, the longevity of the school board’s commitment and the lack of an operational plan as the reason for denying the request.

A school resource officer is an armed law enforcement officer or deputy given authority make arrests, respond to police calls and document school incidents.

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