School Board Approves Hiring Fourth Police Officer

The Wauwatosa School Board on Monday approved the side of hiring a fourth school resource police officer to provide a full-time presence at each high school and middle school in the system.

The district would pay $76,652 of the $100,869 cost of providing the services of the additional officer. The city must still approve the plan, which requires the to pay the remaining 25 percent of the officer's salary and benefits, amounting to $25,217.

The Common Council's Budget and Finance Committee will hear the proposal Tuesday night, and it could come to the full council on Dec. 20.

School resource police officers have been a full-time presence for some time at and high schools, but and middle schools have shared the services of a single officer.

"This is the last step in moving to having an SRO in each secondary building," said Superintendent Phil Ertl.

The Wauwatosa Police Department has recommended the hire as well, and according to Police Capt. Dale Weiss, the position can be funded in 2012 with existing surplus funds. Going forward after the coming year, though, it will have to be budgeted, he said in a memo.

The resource officer would not be taken off of community policing duties, Weiss said. Rather, the SRO would be an additional position in the Police Department ranks. As a benefit to the city, under the existing agreement with the school district, school resource officers can be reassigned to city patrol duties during the summer.

As for the district, the position would be paid for in 2012 out of the Community Service Fund, which currently has a balance of nearly $1 million.

Ertl has said that the request for an additional officer was not a response to any increase in disciplinary incidents at the middle school level, but he acknowledged that student surveys at those grade levels showed a concern for safety.

"This ensures that all of our kids will feel safe in school," he said.