Future use of resource officers 

being considered

 

By Trish Cannon

Current negotiations between the City of Bryant and the Bryant School District could result in resource officers being removed from the campuses as early as next school year.

After numerous rumors were circulated that the district would not renew a verbal contract with the city to retain the resource officers, Superintendent Dr. Richard Abernathy acknowledged that the District and the City have been looking around for possible alternatives.

"We have been in this program for several years and I think both of us are kind of looking to see if there might be a better way to provide security up there," he said. "Nothing is confirmed or denied either way at this time. It is just that we always look at our programs to see what we need to do and the City is doing the same thing. So, really no decision has been final."

Bryant Police Chief Tony Coffman said that he has not been notified of any decision regarding the resource officers but he noted that the resource officers have been placed with the Bryant School District since 1998.

Abernathy explained that, in the event that the district did not retain the resource officers for the 2008-09 school year, a possible alternative could be hiring security personnel.

"Some schools have gone from resource officers to just hiring security-type people and then they give them some type of specialized training," he said. "You can actually hire more security people than you could resource officers at a lower rate and still have the police force here to take on the significant problems. But all of these things are just being looked at right now."