South Brunswick Moves to Enhance School Security

South Brunswick schools can expect to see a larger police presence next year as the township and district work to finalize an agreement that will expand the role of the current school resource officer (SRO) at South Brunswick High School.

As part of the agreement, the new SRO would be given additional supervisory authority and work in conjunction with district staff on security functions at all South Brunswick schools. The position will not involve an additional hire, but will instead see a current officer promoted to sergeant.

"After the Newtown (Connecticut) incident, there's obviously been a big concern about security in our schools," said South Brunswick Police Chief Raymond Hayducka during Tuesday's Township Council meeting. "We have a great program (with the current SRO), a great relationship with (South Brunswick Superintendent Dr. Gary) McCartney, and the Board of Education. We meet monthly and have a lot of interaction. They're looking for ways to increase security, and what they've offered to do is pay for an SRO with additional supervisory authority."

Hayducka said the district would pay 80 percent of the new sergeant's salary, with the cost of the sergeant for 180 school days given as $85,395. The SRO's duties would include scheduling and overseeing school security and active shooter drills with the coordination of the police department; conducting school security assessments and recommending security upgrades; overseeing security for large events; facilitating traffic and parking enforcement; and overseeing and scheduling the school security unit.

Among other duties, the SRO will also provide school staff with police consultation and training, formulate crime prevention programs for district schools, assist in formulating criminal justice programs for the schools, and work in conjunction with school staff to act as a liaison between students and social agencies for needed services.

The SRO would then return to normal police duty when school is not in session.

"We want to come up with a plan to have a more visible police presence(at district schools)," Hayducka said. "Every officer is already required to make a physical check of schools in their patrol area. We're going to up that during the school year."

A similar agreement was approved in Bridgewater last week for an additional school resource officer to cover that district's schools. Last month, Gov. Chris Christie, in answering a question about the Westfield Board of Education’s decision to hire a resource officer, said he was against having armed police officers in schools.

"I don't think that we need to have armed police officers in schools," Christie said, "and I don't think it's a great atmosphere for children to see an armed person walking around the school."

Township officials said the expanded role for South Brunswick's SRO simply  enhances an arrangement that was already in place in the district.

"This formalizes a lot of things that are already occurring and I'm fine with it," said Deputy Mayor Chris Killmurray. 

Hayducka added that the SRO program is not about having an armed presence in South Brunswick schools, but is focused on enhancing security measures and decreasing crime through working hand-in-hand with district staff members.

"This will also ensure that all state mandated drills are scheduled and done right," he said. "But the main objective here is to improve security in our schools."

The proposal will return to the Township Council for a formal vote at a future meeting once the details are finalized with the Board of Education.