Police Chief Proposes Placing Resource Officers At Public Schools

Kimball Police Chief Simpson addressed the Board of Education about a proposal of a School Resource Officer for Kimball Public Schools at their meeting January 14.

“What a School Resource Officer does for you is that it brings an officer to the school. We dress in regular clothes. We get to know the kids, and we get to know their situations,” Simpson said.

According to Simpson, the job of a School Resource Officer is to serve as a support to students when they struggle with issues that may leave them feeling backed into a corner on their own.

“The focus of a School Resource Officer is to be a counselor, to be able to sit down with kids and counsel them through their problems and try to help them to the best result,” Simpson said.

Since the tragic shooting that occurred in Newtown, Connecticut, Simpson has received calls from worried parents voicing their concerns about the safety of our children here in Kimball. According to Simpson, this position could serve as a way to ease those fears and potentially prevent such an event to occur.

“It does help the community feel and know that the security is there. It doesn’t stop the problem. It could happen anywhere, but those places that have School Resource Officers are unlikely to have those situations happen,” Simpson said.

The School Resource Officer would work five days a week spending time in the school during the school day and attending extracurricular activities such as sports games.

Simpson is currently looking into ways to finance the position should the Board of Education choose to move forward with the proposal.