MUSKOGEE, Okla. — The Muskogee Police Chief is looking to pull the school resource officers from Hilldale Schools because of a staffing shortage, but the school district is advocating to keep the partnership.
“They’re very important in our schools nowadays,” said Shannon Overocker.
WATCH: School could lose SRO:
Shannon Overocker’s 16-year-old son attends Hilldale High School. In this day and age, she says safety is at the top of her mind.
“We have been here four years, and this is the best school that we have ever felt safe because of the resource officers,” said Overocker.
She said she grew very concerned about the plan to pull the district’s two school resource officers.
“It’s very scary if we don’t have a resource officer there,” said Overocker. “I want them to be able to go and have somebody that they can talk to and that’s the resource officer.”
“Our children’s safety all throughout Muskogee is important to us,” said Johnny Teehee.
Muskogee Police Chief Johnny Teehee is behind the proposal, saying it’s a manpower issue.
“Right now, officers are worked non-stop,” said Chief Teehee. “They don’t have the ability to take days off because they’re just so short.”
Teehee said the department is down 25% of its officers, and bringing back the two SROs from Hilldale will make a big difference.
“It makes a big difference especially in the nightshift where the shortages are happening at,” said Chief Teehee.
They have two recruiting classes a year and only get 1-2 officers for each. Plus, agencies across the state are all pulling for the same limited qualified candidates, making hiring even tougher.
“When you do get them and get those trained up there’s agencies ready to pluck those away from you for a lot higher pay,” said Chief Teehee.
The partnership between Muskogee PD and Hilldale has been in place more than a decade.
Schools Superintendent Erik Puckett said their elementary school SRO has been around since the program started, and the upper school SRO has been in place 2 to 3 years.
“We can always find someone to come in and provide security but this program’s not just security in fact that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” said Puckett.
He points to the relationship between the students and the SROs as the driving factor for advocating for the program to stick around.
“It’s about community policing,” said Puckett. “The relationship that our SROs have with our kids, our staff, their families and our community as a whole.”
Teehee said if the plan is approved, they’ll still find a way to have a presence on campus during the school year.
Muskogee City Council will decide on the contract with Hilldale at their meeting on April 28. Parents say they’ll be there to advocate for the program to continue.
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