Seaside Police Department turns to community for input on school resource officer
The absence of a full-time school resource officer at Seaside middle and high schools has sparked a debate. Some residents said they are skeptical, while others consider their presence a necessity.
Seaside Police Chief, Abdul Pridgen, said school resource officers are put in place to improve safety, while building relationships with youth. Some people at Saturday’s meeting, held by Seaside Police, thought differently.
Seaside resident, Jesse Perez, said he’s worried about having an officer on campus. “My concern is that it’s a deadly weapon, on school campus,” said Perez.
Perez brought up an incident that happened at Seaside High School back in March. A teacher accidentally fired a gun during a class, sparking controversy among community members. “Any time you take a deadly weapon and put it into an environment where there are kids, children involved, it’s not a good mix,” said Perez.
Chief Pridgen noted that if an SRO is assigned full-time, he or she will carry a weapon. He said that this is part of being a police officer.
Some think that the schools need more surveillance and would benefit from having a full-time SRO.
Danielle Haught is a mother of a Seaside High graduate. In May 2017, her daughter suffered an accidental injury to the head, requiring 9 stitches. She said she wishes an SRO would have been there to handle the situation. “The school did not call the ambulance. They didn’t call in anything. They didn’t even call the police department. I had to tell the principal to call the SRO,” said Haught.
Chief Pridgen said he wants to start building stronger bonds with teens, starting in the middle and high schools. “This is a valuable opportunity for police officers to form lasting relationships with youth. The more they can see us as human beings, as people just like they are, the more likely there are to respect us, to work with us, to cooperate with us, and to trust us,” said Pridgen.
The Seaside Police Department chose to remove the assigned SRO from both the middle and high school until the debate is over. They said they plan to take the community’s input to the city council, where the final decision will be made.
