More money available for school resource officers in Salinas

Six weeks after the deadly Parkland shooting and school safety is top of mind for many. One idea to keep kids safe is controversial here in Salinas — Putting school resource officers on campus.

Last year, two school districts rejected SRO’s on campus. Some said it caused a “school to prison pipeline,” pushing certain students into the criminal justice system early. Eventually the Santa Rita Union School District struck a deal and two SRO’s have been working with students for five months.

The Salinas Police Department has more than $2 million left from a federal grant to put six more officers on different campuses. It’s set to expire in 2020.

But it’s up to the school districts to come forward.

“In light of what’s going on around the country, a nationwide march, so here in salinas, in monterey, on the peninsula, we saw here locally that people want something different,” said Salinas Police Chief Adele Frese. “They want to take a stand against violence, they want the students to be safe.”

Frese said the two current SRO’s, Rich Lopez and Lino Sanchez, are tasked with being present for students, being positive role models, in addition they do traffic control and teach parenting classes. Most importantly, they keep students and staff safe.

“Having us on campus increases the likelihood that we will be able to intervene with a threat, especially a violent or imminent threat,” Frese said. “And it also gives us an opportunity to build a relationship with young people who are our future leaders in this community, our future residents. We want to help make them productive because that enriches our city as a whole.”

Parents we spoke with said they hope the other districts have a change of heart on the matter.

“I’m for it because I think the pros outweigh the cons,” said Macario Cervantes. “I mean there’s a lot of bad things you can say about having an officer inside the school but at the same time, safety is the priority we should all have.”

“I really would like to have more police officers on campus,” said Pablo Barajas. “I think they can make a difference, a big difference.”

The other school districts are on spring break right now. We have reached out to those superintendents but have not heard back.