CAMERON, Oklahoma — Oklahoma schools report improvements in security this school year after receiving state funding to put toward hiring school resource officers (SROs) and other security measures.
At the beginning of the school year, Oklahoma lawmakers passed a bill that gave $150 million to Oklahoma schools for school safety over the next three years.
With those funds, each school district in Oklahoma received $94,000 to invest in security measures, including hiring an SRO.
For many districts, including Cameron Public Schools in LeFlore County, this is a first.
“It’s something that is very much needed in our school districts,” said Cameron Superintendent, Bruce Douglas.
Along with adding security measures like card readers on buildings and new fencing, Douglas said hiring an SRO has made a difference in more ways than one.
“We were able to hire a resource officer who's a former alum of Cameron Public School and is a wonderful person,” Douglas said. “He's more than just a resource officer. He's a counselor, he's a friend, he's a lot to this school district and our students.”
That officer is Hank Miller, who has years of law enforcement experience and now serves as Cameron’s SRO along with being a local pastor.
“It does take a special type of person to be here for the kids,” Miller said. “It's not an aggressive position; it's a mentorship.”
“Knowing that he's just a call away, or he's just outside the building, or he's in his vehicle, and we can reach out to him when needed, it does give us a sense of security,” Douglas said.
A similar impact can be seen across Oklahoma. State Senator, Dewayne Pemberton said the program brought an increase of 272 SROs to schools across the state.
The funding especially benefits smaller rural schools like Cameron, which Pemberton said was the goal with this program.
“Most of your bigger school districts like Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Muskogee, Jenks, Moore and so on had their own police force, but the smaller school districts, Class 2a, 3a and smaller, they might have one resource officer or they may not have one at all,” Pemberton said. “This was really focused on rural Oklahoma.”
While this funding is part of a three-year pilot program, Pemberton said it’s just the beginning, as the state plans to continue investing in school safety.
“We knew that once we passed this, there's no way we can ever go back,” Pemberton said. “We funded it for three years, and I’m sure at the end of three years, we will do funding for another three years and [then] another three years. You can never tell a school district or community that you're going to take their resource officer away, so we know it's basically a reoccurring revenue for us.”
Pemberton also said there is legislation being considered now that would further expand access to SROs for some Oklahoma schools.
Senate Bill 1521, passed by the Senate Education Committee in February, would allow districts without available active law enforcement officers in their county or community to hire retired peace officers or CLEET (Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training) certified security guards.
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