Mayor Willie Weatherford makes no qualms about it: If Manteca Unified won’t fund school resource officers in the 2011-12 budget years he wants to see the three police officers reassigned to patrol.
Manteca Unified and the City of Manteca split the cost for the SRO officers for years. The school district has significantly reduced funding and is not committing any money after July 1.
The mayor empathizes with the school district noting they are in a worse financial situation than the city.
“We need to remember the SRO started as a way to combat truancy so the school district could increase their ADA (average daily attendance paid by the state when a student attends school),” Weatherford said.
Since then they have evolved into de facto counselors. No one debates the effectiveness of the SRO officers in building rapport with students and helping defuse gang and other problems on high school campuses.
The mayor – who retired as Manteca police chief in the 1990s – believes reassigned officers to patrol or gang units is a more effective use of limited municipal resources.
Manteca was forced to reduce police staffing 16 months ago by 12 officers to bridge a budget gap. Manteca has kept patrol staffing levels up but at the expense of investigation and support units that are effective tools in reducing future crime.
Weatherford made his remarks during the mid-year assessment workshop the council conducted last week at Chez Shari.
Manteca Unified and the City of Manteca split the cost for the SRO officers for years. The school district has significantly reduced funding and is not committing any money after July 1.
The mayor empathizes with the school district noting they are in a worse financial situation than the city.
“We need to remember the SRO started as a way to combat truancy so the school district could increase their ADA (average daily attendance paid by the state when a student attends school),” Weatherford said.
Since then they have evolved into de facto counselors. No one debates the effectiveness of the SRO officers in building rapport with students and helping defuse gang and other problems on high school campuses.
The mayor – who retired as Manteca police chief in the 1990s – believes reassigned officers to patrol or gang units is a more effective use of limited municipal resources.
Manteca was forced to reduce police staffing 16 months ago by 12 officers to bridge a budget gap. Manteca has kept patrol staffing levels up but at the expense of investigation and support units that are effective tools in reducing future crime.
Weatherford made his remarks during the mid-year assessment workshop the council conducted last week at Chez Shari.
