ROCKLAND, Maine — There will be no school resource officer in the city schools, at least for the near future.
Rockland police Chief Bruce Boucher said this week that the city department decided last month against applying for a grant to help pay for the resource officer but instead is seeking money to pay for an officer to deal with the opiate crisis in the community.
Boucher said the decision to not apply for the resource officer was made after he made a pitch for the position in May to the Regional School Unit 13 Board.
“I got the message loud and clear that night,” Boucher said.
The Rockland City Council voted unanimously at its April 11 meeting to support applying for the school resource officer grant. An outside evaluation of the Rockland police department last year recommended the addition of such a position.
But at the May school board meeting, RSU 13 board Chair Steve Roberts expressed reservations about the proposal. He said he wanted it made clear that the resource officer would have no role in disciplining students in school. The board chair said he was not opposed to the program but had concerns, remarking about videos seen across the country in which officers used excessive force against youngsters.
He also said he did not want a program that created a school-to-prison pipeline. In addition, Roberts said he was disturbed to hear stories across the country of officers getting students to be “stool pigeons” and provide information on parents who use marijuana.
This week, Roberts said the city had not given the school district adequate time to consider the proposal. The board chair said it takes time to develop policies to oversee the use of a school resource officer and to make sure the correct person would have been hired.
Boucher said the city instead applied for a different grant to pay for an officer to deal with the opiate addiction problem. The details of what that officer would be doing are still being developed. He said the department also is participating in a grant application with the Knox County Community Coalition to help with recovery addiction in the community and to provide programs for low-income children during school vacations. The goal of the latter program would be to keep children busy with productive activities, such as art and dance.
The extent of the heroin problem in the midcoast was highlighted by the more than 100 participants who gathered in February at Rockland City Hall to share their stories and offer a wide range of possible solutions. Just the month before police reported on two deaths from suspected opiate overdoses involving a 19-year-old Thomaston woman who died at a Rockland motel and a 38-year-old man who died at his residence on Summer Street.
The officer grant being sought by Rockland would pay for 75 percent of the cost of the officer for three years. The local community would need to pay the remaining 25 percent and agree to keep the officer on for an additional year after the grant expires. The grant cannot exceed $125,000 over three years.