Agenda Date: 10/04/2016
Subject:
Title
A resolution approving an Intergovernmental Agreement between Littleton Public Schools and the City of Littleton for School Resource Officers
Body
Presented By:
Doug Stephens, Chief of Police
POLICY QUESTION:
Does city council support modification of the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with Littleton Public Schools (LPS) regarding School Resource Officers (SRO)?
BACKGROUND:
LPS and the City of Littleton have a long-standing agreement regarding SROs. LPD provides officers to work in the schools and LPS reimburses the city for half of the cost. These officers work school hours and handle all calls for service in and around the school. This partnership plays an important role in increasing safety at schools and surrounding neighborhoods. In 2014, a Department of Justice (DOJ) Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant was awarded to the City of Littleton for $125,000 to help pay for these officers.
STAFF ANALYSIS:
To support the COPS grant, the DOJ issued new guidance for interagency agreements. This comes because of controversial arrests across the country which started a conversation about whether SROs are arresting children for code of conduct violations rather than criminal violations. The DOJ is reviewing all IGAs related to the COPS grant and found that the City of Littleton/LPS IGA is missing mandatory information. The modified IGA has been rewritten to include the time frame of the grant period, the roles and responsibilities or the SRO and LPS, and clarification of information sharing between the police department and the school district. The IGA now also states that the officer is not to be a disciplinarian within the schools.
The intent of this change is to increase understanding between LPS and the SROs including an understanding that school code of conduct violations and discipline of students is the responsibility of LPS. SROs are to be utilized for incidents that involve criminal...
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