MPUSD Board ok’s SRO’s in agreement with Monterey and Seaside

It’s a topic that’s been quite controversial on the Central Coast – School Resource Officers. But on Tuesday, the area’s largest school district voted on keeping SRO’s in Monterey and Seaside schools for now.

This week, the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District Board approved Memorandums of Understanding with the cities of Monterey and Seaside for school resource officers.

Over the years, MPUSD has sometimes helped fund the program, but during Tuesday’s meeting it decided not to. Monterey Police Chief Dave Hober doesn’t believe it will change anything the students will see.

“I let them know I will try to have the SRO there as much as possible, but when there are staffing issues, I will have to bring the SRO back to deal with some of our staffing issues, if we have those,” Hober said. “But most of the time they’re not going to really see any difference.”

According to Monterey Police, the SRO program has been around for more than 20 years. Chief Hober says the benefits are threefold.

“They know what’s going on with the school, they know the staff, they know the students and they’re able to better deal with issues that are in the best issues of the kids, they have special training with that,” Hober said. “But with anything else, it’s not just the training, they’re there are a continuous basis so they’re always able to work with the staff and with the students to get to the best resolution for any of those situations.”

He says SRO’s can also help foster community policing, and in a worst case scenario – respond to something like an active shooter situation or a gun on campus.

He says SRO’s don’t dole out punishments, but rather get called to investigate actual crimes, and work with the Juvenile Probation Department to try to get students through diversion programs.

But SRO’s have been a hot topic. Some believe it creates a “school to prison” pipeline for students of color and lower socio-economic means.

“I just don’t think a full time police officer at our school sites is our best use of money to help the students that are at a high risk,” one board member said Tuesday.

“The question that I ask is — Is that due to what the police are doing, or is that a broader, bigger picture in that it’s endemic to the entire system and sometimes I think police get painted as the ones who creating that,” Hober said.

MPUSD released a statement to KION saying:

“The Monterey Peninsula Unified School District is appreciative of our partnership with the cities of Monterey and Seaside. We look forward to continuing to work together on behalf of students and families.”