At-large City Councilor Brent B. Bean, II. (WNG File Photo)
WESTFIELD – When the School Resource Officers (SROs) at the middle and high schools were pulled by the Westfield Police Department after the holidays to temporarily fill shifts due to staffing constraints, At-large Councilor Brent B. Bean, II decided to take action. He filed a motion at the Jan. 17 City Council meeting to have Police Chief John A. Camerota come in and discuss the plan for the rest of the academic year. Bean’s motion was referred to the Public, Health & Safety sub-committee, which will meet on Wed., Feb. 6 at 6 p.m. in City Hall Room 201.
In advance of the committee, Bean met with Chief Camerota and Captains Larry Valliere and Michael McCabe to discuss temporary and longer term solutions.
“I can’t thank the department enough for their understanding and flexibility,” Bean said, acknowledging that the police department is currently facing a shortage in manpower, due to officers out on injury and military leave, and some officers leaving to join departments in other municipalities.
Bean said the department will include the schools when they schedule the SRO officers for their shifts during the month of February, and have them make two to three stops per school every day, on top of answering any calls they get.
Bean said by the end of February, new officers they have hired will become available to fill shifts after having attended the Police Academy.
Following their meeting, Capt. Valliere shared his instructions to scheduling supervisors, asking them to assign the SROs to a sector that allows them to easily access the school they are normally assigned to, and to adjust their assignments to make this work.
“The department’s goal is to return the SRO’s back to their schools asap. In the meantime, we are trying to ease the tension that this has caused for some administrators, teachers, parents and students. Thank you for your cooperation (SRO’s especially), while we ride this out,” Valliere wrote in his instructions.
“I got a number of calls from parents and teachers that this is a real concern,” Bean said. He said for them it’s not just about the safety, but the relationships the SRO’s are building in the schools, and the resources they provide. He said the pole were great to work with, along with Councilors Michael Burns, liaison to WPD and Mary Ann Babinski, who chairs Public Health and Safety.
The plan going forward will be discussed in full in the Public Health & Safety meeting on Feb. 6.
Bean also said he would like to work on a more permanent fix in next year’s budget.
