Arizona Department Of Education Unveils New School Safety Program Using Off-Duty Officers

Arizona Department Of Education Unveils New School Safety Program Using Off-Duty Officers

By Corinne Murdock |

On Wednesday, the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) unveiled a new program using off-duty cops to supplement the shortage of safety officers on campus.

Under this new program, ADE filled its school resource officer (SRO) force from 190 to 301 positions — despite the statewide officer shortage. Superintendent Horne said in Wednesday’s press conference announcing the new program that an increase to SROs was one of his main priorities. 

Horne said that the state’s police officer shortage initially posed a problem to the SRO increase. That meant that the fully-funded SRO positions had no officers to fill them. To work around this issue, Horne explained that the ADE contracted with Off Duty Management (ODM), which enables law enforcement to pick up off-duty shifts.

Horne credited Mike Kurtenbach, head of ADE’s school safety division and former Phoenix Police Department assistant chief, for the idea. Horne noted that their arrangement with ODM ensures full coverage at schools.

“We don’t involve partial coverage. The nightmare is that some maniac walks into a school and kills 20 kids — this has happened in other states and could happen here — and there’s no one there to protect the kids,” said Horne.

ODM President Bryan Manley thanked ADE for engaging in an “innovative” approach, the first of its kind in the state. ODM traditionally works security for businesses or venues, such as movie theaters.

Traditionally, SROs are fully-dedicated officers to a school that receive a minimum of 40 hours of training to work in schools. These ODM-deployed officers will be armed off-duty officers that receive a foundational 8 hours of specialized training from ADE for working in schools, on top of the 650 hours minimum of basic training to work in a police department, as well as field and on-the-job training. 

Horne noted that the city of Phoenix has declined to participate in the SRO arrangement. Phoenix police force shrank last week to 2,561, according to Kurtenbach. As such, law enforcement from surrounding areas like Peoria will have ODM-deployed officers for Phoenix-area schools.

In response to reporter queries about parental concerns of increased arrests or intimidation of students, Horne said that the officers would provide order and a feeling of security — not fear. The superintendent said that those upset that some students may be arrested on campus were perpetuating the idea that “it’s okay to break the law without consequence.”

“This will allow us to provide a safe environment for more of our schools,” said Horne. “People should not be afraid of the police officers. The police officers are there to protect us. Without the police officers, we would have no civilization.” 

Horne paraphrased 17th-century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes to supplement his claim, noting that civilized societies have a healthy and appreciative relationship with their law enforcement.

“Life becomes ‘solitary, nasty, brutish, and short’ if we don’t have police officers to protect civilization. It’s a very bad attitude to have a negative attitude toward police officers,” said Horne. 

Recent student shooting threats have concerned students who have brought guns to campuses at Bostrom High School, Linda Abril Educational Academy, Maryvale High School, and North High School (Phoenix Union High School District); Kyrene de la Estrella Elementary School (Kyrene School District); and Desert Ridge High School (Gilbert Public Schools).

John Croteau, Dysart Unified School District superintendent, expressed gratitude for the ADE’s “creative” expansion of SROs.

“Safety is one of the most important things, if not the most important thing we can provide in education,” said Croteau. “We know that our students won’t learn if our students don’t feel safe, and that goes for the employees and staff [as well].” 

Troy Bales, Paradise Valley Unified School District superintendent, added that he looked forward to the further expansion of the SRO presence on campus through the new program.  

Watch the full press conference here:

Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.

Peoria Mayor Commits To School Safety For All

Peoria Mayor Commits To School Safety For All

By Daniel Stefanski |

A west valley mayor is continuing to keep his commitments to his city.

Last week, Peoria Mayor Jason Beck announced that there would be a police presence at all Peoria Unified School District schools during the 2023-2024 year.

Beck highlighted that there would be four new SLO’s (School Liaison Officers) and rotating SLO’s at every school; that this presence would be expanded to all elementary schools; that there would be 22 Peoria schools with police coverage and an increase in SLO salary.

The mayor said, “It’s the fact that we are trying to take care of our kids. Our first priority as a city is to take care of the residents. Safety and well being is our first priority.”

Peoria’s increased investment in school safety followed a communication from the first-year mayor in the city’s May 2023 newsletter, where he updated residents on his plan for keeping children safe. Beck wrote, “As Mayor, I believe the first priority of our city is to ensure that the kids, teachers and staff of the Peoria Unified School District not only feel safe, but are safe while in and around schools and associated facilities. Likewise, parents and loved ones should be able to have peace of mind that this is always the case. With this in mind, there should be nothing more important in our city’s budget than providing for the protection of our kids, teachers and staff while allowing them to have a great educational experience and positive work environment.”

Mayor Beck concluded his letter, stating, “No one should pit the skills, dedication, and good intentions of these wonderful public servants against one another. The choice is not between social workers, counselors, and law enforcement. We need an all-of-the above approach to show our children and community that we value safety and education for the happiness and prosperity of our community.”

The action to provide additional school safety personnel for Peoria schools comes on the heels of an earlier announcement from Mayor Beck on funding for the city’s police pension funding. In a Facebook post, Beck noted that the Peoria City Council had moved $6 million to the police pension funding, which was now 80% funded – compared to 48% funded in 2020.

Earlier this year, Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne and the Arizona Department of Education released the findings of a poll, which found that “81% of Arizona Public School parents support having a police officer” and “78% of Arizona Public School parents think that safety at schools is VERY IMPORTANT.”

Horne held an April press conference with Arizona legislators to address this issue. The group called on school boards “to support having an officer at every school and to apply for funding through an available school safety grant.”

After that press conference, Senator T.J. Shope added, “While we certainly see the value in school counselors as a component to safe and healthy schools, we believe SROs (school resource officers) are a necessity in this day and age where we’re witnessing increasing school shootings across the country. SROs can also help detour gang activity as they foster positive relationships with students.”

Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.

Tucson School Official Justifies School Safety Staff Increase Following Elementary Shooting Threat

Tucson School Official Justifies School Safety Staff Increase Following Elementary Shooting Threat

By Corinne Murdock |

The Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) approved an increase in school safety staff a week before experiencing an active shooter threat last Tuesday. 

TUSD Governing Board member Sadie Shaw pointed to that threat as justification for supporting the increase, which some community members opposed. TUSD will hire five more school safety supervisors, two dispatchers, and one field lieutenant, adding to the 34 existing school safety department members. Only board members Leila Counts and Ravi Shah opposed the increase.

The TUSD community and South Tucson Police Department (STPD) presented different accounts of last Tuesday’s threat, the nature of the 911 calls, and the department’s response times. 

In their version of the events to KGUN 9, STPD claimed that they received one call about the potential gunman at 7:05 am last Tuesday. They said that several men were reportedly arguing over a possible stolen car across from Mission View Elementary School, part of TUSD. Half an hour later, STPD claimed that a school monitor reported in a second call that one of the men may have been armed. 

STPD didn’t respond until 9:05 am, a response time of about two hours in a city of just over one square mile. STPD reported that they didn’t find a gun. 

However, Shaw and others offered a different account of events last Wednesday. Shaw stated that STPD didn’t respond for over three hours, that the alleged gunman was directly threatening the school, and that the school principal placed the calls to police. The board member thanked the TUSD safety team for protecting the students when police failed to arrive.

Shaw said that the experience was significant enough for her to vote to hire more school safety officers.

“I wasn’t on the governing board when they voted to arm school safety but in general I support this decision because these employees are sometimes tasked to respond to dangerous situations that happen at any TUSD site — 24/7,” wrote Shaw. “[Y]ou know what? I have a child that goes to school in this district and so do many of you. I don’t think we can afford to make idealistic decisions that ignore reality. This is America.”

In a subsequent petition to end school gun violence, which Shaw shared, the group “Protect Our South Tucson School” claimed that STPD didn’t respond for three and a half hours, and that the two calls were about, first, a “gun yielding [sic] angry gunman” standing outside the school and, second, an electronic threat sent to the school. Additionally, the group echoed Shaw’s claim that the second call came from the elementary school principal — not a school resource officer. 

The entirety of the group’s account of event is reproduced below:

On Tuesday, June 21st at 7:15 am, 15 minutes before a summer school day started a gun yielding angry gunman stood outside of Mission View Elementary in South Tucson, a one square mile enclave of the much larger city of Tucson.

About an hour after the first call to 911 the school received a threat electronically.

The principal called 911 and pleaded again for law enforcement officers to come to protect the school while students participated in their summer school classes. Nobody showed up. Instead, the school district’s school safety team showed up in a heroic fashion and was able to secure the school.

It wasn’t until 3 and a half hours after the incident did South Tucson Police showed [sic] up to the mass shooting threat.

Every day in the United States a mass shooting occurs, just a few weeks ago in Uvalde Texas, a mass shooter ended the lives of many children and teachers. The lack of urgency in South Tucson PD’s response is unacceptable. We understand that South Tucson PD is understaffed, but when it comes to the potential threat of a mass shooting occurring it should be their number one priority. In the one square mile city, families and schools can only receive services first from South Tucson police. Tucson Police Department should be responding jointly to potential threats of gun violence to our schools regardless if the threat is in South Tucson.

We are calling on South Tucson, Tucson Unified School District and the City of Tucson to address this issue immediately and develop policies that improve lines of communication, and improve collaboration when it comes to protecting our students from gun violence.

AZ Free News reached out to STPD just before noon on Tuesday. We were referred to STPD Chief Danny Denogean; he didn’t respond by press time.

STPD admitted that their response time was too slow, which they asserted was around two hours. Denogean apologized on Monday in a statement to KGUN 9.

“We own this. We should have had a better response to that call. There’s no debating that. We needed to get there quicker.”

The neighboring Tucson Police Department (TPD) has also had slower response times, due to staffing shortages. Assistant Chief Kevin Hall told KOLD in January that the issue has been plaguing them for about two years. Chief Chris Magnus reported that their fastest response time for foremost emergencies averages 4 minutes and 47 seconds, whereas lowest-level calls average about one hour and 37 minutes. 

Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.

Chandler School Board Member Melts Down Over Opposition to Cops on Campus 

Chandler School Board Member Melts Down Over Opposition to Cops on Campus 

By Corinne Murdock |

Tensions escalated during the Chandler Unified School District (CUSD) regular meeting on Wednesday over discussions of funding school resource officers (SROs).

Governing Board member Lindsay Love exhibited signs of a meltdown after fellow board member Joel Wirth expressed discomfort over her opposition to SROs. Love wanted the board to present more metrics and plans to the public for SROs before adding more of them on campuses. She cited the recent mass shootings in schools, namely Uvalde, Texas, to bolster her point for additional meetings on the subject.

“I don’t necessarily feel comfortable with cops on campus, right? I’m that person who doesn’t necessarily feel comfortable with cops around kids, right? But no matter how you feel about that, I think that there needs to be some transparency and I think that people need to know what the plan is,” said Love.

Wirth responded that he was uncomfortable with Love’s opposition to SROs. He saw the issue behind the Uvalde tragedy differently, arguing that more armed officers on campus would prevent similar tragedies from befalling CUSD. Wirth said that no SROs at all was not the right choice.

“Considering what’s going on in the world, that seems like the worst decision we can make — ” began Wirth.

At that point, Love interrupted Wirth to argue that there were CUSD members who didn’t want SROs. She claimed that SROs impacted certain categories of students to a greater negative degree than others. Love didn’t elaborate on what motives could drive that claimed impact.

“You may be comfortable with cops on campus but there are parents in this audience and students in this audience who may not, right? Because what we know is that we have cops on campus and they disproportionately impact BIPOC students and SPED students,” said Love. “I will not be silenced about this. We just had parents and students get up and address this. So you not feeling comfortable does not negate people in this audience and in our community who do not feel comfortable.”

Board President Barb Mozdzen instructed Love to give Wirth the floor to speak. Love interrupted Mozdzen instead.

“You know what Barb, I interrupted because I overheard him say over there, ‘Let somebody else speak,’ and I let everybody on this board speak,” said Love.

When Wirth tried to respond, Love shouted him down.

“No, I’m not letting you speak. I’m not letting you speak. I polled this myself, I had questions and I won’t be silenced,” said Love. “You can speak but I will not sit up here for a lecture.”

Mozdzen intervened to inform Love that she was out of order for breaking away from the agenda. Love refused to allow Mozdzen to continue speaking. Love asserted that if she was out of line, then Wirth was out of line for “lecturing” her in his response.

At that point, Mozdzen repeated to Love that Wirth was going to speak and that Love should remain silent. 

Wirth concluded by reiterating his belief that SROs were necessary for school safety.

“My point is, I believe it’s important to have officers on the campus based on what’s going on in the world right now. That’s all I have to say,” said Wirth. 

In a later post on Twitter, Love insisted that police intimidated minority and LGBTQ+ students.

Love, a controversial member, decided last November that she wouldn’t seek reelection. 

Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.