DUMFRIES, Va. — Dumfries officials will vote on whether or not to install a Police School Resource Officer, or SRO, at Dumfries Elementary School.
Police Chief Rebecca Edwards on Tuesday asked town officials to place a memorandum of understanding with the town police department and Prince William County Public Schools on the consent agenda for the Aug. 7 meeting of the Dumfries Town Council. If it’s approved, Dumfries Elementary School will be the first and only elementary school in Prince William with a dedicated police officer offering protection to students and staff. The officer would be stationed at the school in time for the start of the upcoming school year.
Town officials in February cleared the way for police officials to explore the requirements of adding a police school resource officer. The newly created position within the Dumfries Police Department comes after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn. where 20 children and six adults were shot and killed last December. It was the second deadliest school shooting following a shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007.
SROs are common in middle and high schools in Prince William County, but a lack of funds have prevented them from being as common at the grade-school level.
Dumfries’ SRO will be provided a computer workstation, to access to data and school records, and will investigate “any criminal incident involving the student population,” according to an agreement between the town and school division.
The implementation of the SRO was expected to cost town taxpayers as much as $100,000 to implement the specialized police officer. The memorandum of understanding that details the duties of the officer states the position will remain in place for one year after the agreement is signed.
Dumfries Elementary School houses more than 500 students as is the only elementary school in the town.
