Resource officers feel pinch of times

School resource officers are invaluable assets to school districts, but like many public-safety positions, their future is uncertain. [invaluable my ass! It's a jobs program for overpaid cops to baby sit grade school children. Do we really need an armed thug in every government grade school class room to baby sit the kids?]

Unlike Phoenix police officers, school resource officers' salaries are funded from the School Safety Program, a state-funded program paid for through federal grants, said Luis Samudio, a spokesman for the Phoenix Police Department.

"Right now, they (school resource officers) are secure for the 2009-2010 school year. I don't know about next school year," he said.

Schools in the Paradise Valley Unified School District lost half of their officers two years ago, said Jim Lee, the district's director of student services. The district has five officers covering North Canyon, Shadow Mountain and Paradise Valley high schools, Vista Verde Middle School, Palomino Elementary and Palomino Intermediate.

"We're holding our breath and hoping the Department of Education funding continues next year," he said. "We hope that we will eventually be able to increase the number of SROs in our schools." [Instead of calling them armed police thugs they call them self's the politically correct term of SROs which sounds do much nicer]

Lee said PV had 10 officers in schools before the number was cut during the grant application process. Each year, more than 1,000 schools that desire officers have applied to the state Department of Education and must explain why they need one, he said.

"They have a major, positive impact on the school campus, and the loss of those officers is sorely felt by schools when they are no longer at a school," Lee said. [How about explaining some REAL benefits, other then the feel good statement of "they have positive impact on the school campus"]

The officers deal with issues including fights, drugs and alcohol, and family challenges. [Do we really need an armed cop that is being paid $50,000 to $100,000 to break up fights between two third graders?] They also provide up to 180 hours of classroom education. Law Related Education educates students on rules, laws and the legal system and helps shape students' character development. [I suspect these programs are more brainwashing propaganda programs to teach the kids to do as their told and not question authority!]

"Their presence provides reassurance, provides security on a school campus," Lee said. "Their knowledge of law-related issues and their presence helps stem the tide of misbehavior and inappropriate action on the part of the students."

Principals who have had officers and lost them because of budget constraints have said the officers' absence is felt.

"There's a distinct difference in the feeling, tone and environment with an SRO on campus. They've become an invaluable member of each school team," Lee said. ["feeling, tone and environment" sounds like a do nothing jobs program for cops, other then the feel good part]

Charlie Lambert has been a school resource officer at Paradise Valley High for three years. The officer, who has a bachelor's degree in education, said he enjoys his job, but said it's challenging to divide his focus between multiple schools. [I bet he enjoys a job where he never has to worry about catching criminals, other then a break up fights between unarmed third graders] "If I have something going on at one school, such as some students had a fight, and I'm dealing with that here, that doesn't allow me to go take care of the problem at another school," he said. "They would have to go call a patrol officer." [Parents rarely call an armed patrol officer to break up fights between two 9 year olds]

In addition to PV High, Lambert spends time at Pinnacle and Horizon high schools and sometimes elementary and middle schools as well.

If an issue at a school requires the assistance of law-enforcement officials, addressing it will take longer if school officials have to wait for an officer to arrive. [Using that logic you could demand that a cop be hired for every government agency that employees warm bodies. They might need a cop once in the next 10 years so why not have one on the payroll. Lets face it this is nothing more then a jobs program for overpaid cops]

"We'll just have to survive the best we can. There's no other option. What do you do when you lose the funding source for a valuable program? You make do the best you can with that and then move forward," Lee said.