Upset with “deeply troubling incidents” of violence, hate graffiti and the arrest of a teacher in recent weeks, Councilmember Andrew Friedson has asked County Executive Marc Elrich and officials from the police and school district “to reevaluate our current approach to school safety.”
In a letter, Friedson, who is running for county executive, requested that officials “convene and develop a strategy to permanently assign sworn law enforcement officers on-site in every MCPS High School.”
He told MCM, “I’ve consistently said we need to revisit” the decision made in 2021 to eliminate the school resource officer program. However, he added, “This is the most specific I’ve been.”
He pointed to recent incidents including a shooting of a student at Wootton High School, graffiti of the name of the Sandy Hook shooter at Bradley Hills Elementary School, and the arrest of a Walter Johnson teacher alleged to have videoed underaged girls that convinced him to pursue the matter further.
Two days after sending his letter, a fight at James Hubert Blake High School resulted in a student being shot.
Friedson called for the creation of a memorandum of understanding to address the situation and create a way to better address safety and security issues within the school system.
“The change that we made isn’t working,” he said, referring to the current policy of community engagement officers, in which police are assigned to a school cluster in surrounding neighborhoods outside the school and do not spend their day inside a school.
Friedson said he received responses from police and school officials that “they are interested in discussing and meeting to discuss about new strategies.”
In his letter, Friedson wrote, “The current program has led to confusion and inconsistency regarding the expectations of the Community Engagement Officer (CEO). A permanently assigned officer on-site allows for relationship-building with students as a community policing best practice to help prevent major incidents and ensures immediate response in the event when they occur.”
Friedson would like to have sworn officers in every high school and another officer dedicated to the school’s cluster. “It is important to reinforce and ensure that police officers are intended to serve public safety needs and to proactively build relationships with students and therefore should not be involved in school discipline,” he wrote.
He also requested input from the Rockville, Gaithersburg and Park police as well as the Sheriff’s department.
“We have no greater responsibility than protecting our kids and our communities. By proactively leveraging resources instead of relying solely on a reactive response to school security issues, we can build on the existing coordination,” he wrote.
Listen to the pros and cons of the school resource officer program made during a public hearing prior to a vote to end the program.
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