BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. — Across the state, some school districts have their own police forces. It's a concept that Broward County Public Schools could soon be looking into.
In late July, the Broward County School Board brought up a serious question, "If we have explored our own police force, what would that look like?"
According to school district Police Chief Jaime Alberti, past boards had brought up the concept in years past after seeing school district police forces like the ones in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.
Back in March, the board was presented with four options.
One of them was a hybrid model comprised of school resource officers and officers from what would be a newly created school district police force. The other option was a Broward Schools District Police Force.
According to the research, the starting cost to implement it would be roughly $65 million.
The board back then passed on the idea, but board member Torey Alston asked the board to explore it once again.
"It is time," he shared. "Clearly, we understand the value of having our own police force. As the son of a deceased SRO (school resource office), I think there is great value in it, and I think I want to be the first, that it's past time for us to explore it."
But not everyone is keen on it.
"Educators are not police officers. Police officers are not educators," school board member Allen Zeman said. "We are really trying to put a square hole in a round peg here."
Zeman has other concerns, believing a school district police force won't be as responsive as the model that's currently in place. That model involves 200 school resource offers contracted by 13 different municipalities.
"We have to make sure we are spending all of our dollars on our core mission, which is really to educate students," Zeman said.
Zeman also emphasizes to get the program off the ground would take about three years and a hefty paycheck upfront.
"You don't just put out a job announcement and 450 officers show up," he said. "So, it's going to take a good deal of time, but I'm pretty rock solid against it."
But those who have worked for a school district force say as long as it's built on a good foundation, created with the right officers and training that understand the specialty that is working in a school system, a Broward County school police force could have its advantages.
"We stop a lot of school shootings because the officers in the school become mentors to the kids, and they build this trust with young people, and then that kid has an adult that they trust, and they are comfortable in sharing information," Curtis Lavarello said. "The fact that you get a little more consistency when it's a school district police department, you don't have officers rotating in and out as much, in the school district, as you would in a city or county."
Lavarello said typically, a school district will recruit officers already working in local municipalities.
But the position at a school will sometimes have more monetary incentive.
In counties like Lee County, the pay is about $50,000 for a school resource officer. In Orange County, it's about $60,000.
But in Broward County, school resource officers can receive up to $103,000.
"Now, the position has really professionalized," Lavarello explained.
The Broward County School Board will now discuss the idea in workshops, gathering ideas from the community and insight from the sheriff's office and their partner municipalities.
The next step would then be town halls and discussion at board meetings to see if a school district police force is wanted.
