It’s been about eight years since Oxford Community Schools had a law enforcement officer working exclusively with its students and staff on a daily basis.
Now, it appears the district and Oxford Township are looking into possibly reinstituting the position of school liaison officer.
The only obstacle is funding.
‘I would be supportive of having a liaison officer, if we could find the money to have one,? said Superintendent Dr. William Skilling.
A liaison officer from the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department would cost approximately $118,000 annually, which includes wages, fringe benefits, dispatch charges, liability insurance, deputy supplies, uniform costs and access to a vehicle.
‘It’s the whole kit and kaboodle, so it’s not what a deputy makes,? said Undersheriff Mike McCabe. ‘A top-wage deputy makes about $63,000 a year. It takes five years to get top wage.?
With the school district facing a potential $3.8 million deficit for the 2010-11 fiscal year and the township facing the possibility of having to either cut its police budget or ask voters to increase the police millage by 40 percent just to maintain the current level of staffing, the prospect of adding another deputy doesn’t look very good right now.
Township Supervisor Bill Dunn, who approached Skilling with the idea, indicated the township and school district could use the same funding arrangement they did in the past. The two entities used to split the deputy’s cost for the nine months school is in session, then during the three summer months, the township paid 100 percent.
‘If the Oxford Township Board approves an arrangement where the Oxford Community Schools only pays 50 percent of the cost for nine months, it would be pretty difficult to turn down,? said Skilling, noting it’s ultimately a school board decision. ‘The administration team would try to find a way to make it work financially.?
However, Skilling noted the district could not afford to pay 100 percent of the cost.
‘There would be no way to afford the total cost of having a liaison officer,? he said. ‘If there were, we would already have one.?
Sheriff’s Lt. Larry Perry, commander of the Oxford Township substation, believes in the value of having a daily police presence at the schools.
‘That position helps foster safe and secure surroundings for the students and the staff,? he said.
Perry knows this because in 2000-01 he was the school liaison officer for Oxford.
‘From my standpoint, having walked in those shoes, I feel it’s a very, very critical position to have within our community,? he said. ‘I know there was a lot of stuff that we handled and prevented from happening by having that presence in the schools.?
At one point, having a liaison officer prevented what could have been a tragic and deadly situation.
‘We had an incident when I was in the schools where we actually took a loaded handgun off one of the students at the high school,? said Perry, noting he was tipped off by another student.
Being inside the schools every day allows an officer to cultivate relationships with the kids, gain their trust and open the lines of communication.
‘It tears down preconceived barriers about police and not being able to talk to them,? Perry said.
Right now, Perry feels like his substation’s relationship with the district is not as effective as it could be.
‘We are totally reactive to what’s going on in the schools,? he said. ‘We don’t have any kind of proactive presence from a law enforcement standpoint and that does concern me.?
McCabe is supportive of having a school liaison officer in Oxford.
‘I think it’s a great idea if they can afford it because it’s preventive, it’s not reactive,? he said. ‘If they can do it, we’d highly recommend it. But it boils down to what can you afford now.?
‘There’s a lot of stuff that goes on in schools,? McCabe continued. ‘School liaison officers are a valuable thing for the community and for the school district. We can nip things in the bud. We can divert kids. There’s all kinds of things we can do that will solve some of these problems. Let’s face it, a lot of the problems in the community start within the schools, then they generate out from there.?
The sheriff’s department currently provides liaison officers to seven school districts in the county.
‘We have not been officially told that anybody is cutting back,? McCabe said. ‘There’s talk out there about cuts, but nobody’s done it yet.?
Hank Szlenkier, the Oxford-Addison Youth Assistance caseworker who deals with at-risk kids on a daily basis, also supports having a school liaison officer.
‘In terms of overall safety and drug prevention in the schools, I think it’s crucial and vital to have that liaison officer back,? he said. ‘I know it’s costly, but I think it’s worth the financial effort. It certainly would make my job easier to have another pair of eyes and ears in terms of trying to combat these kinds of issues in the schools.?