OFFICIALS QUESTION NEED FOR COP

When $22 was stolen from a Taunton High School student's wallet just days
before Christmas, school resource officer Dora Treacy did not have to look
far to retrieve it.

Treacy, 45, said it was the trust she has built during her three years at
the school that made it easy for students to come forward and provide
information leading to the suspect and the money.

School policing, created in the 1994 federal crime bill, increased
dramatically after two students opened fire at Columbine High School in
Littleton, Colo., in April 1999, killing 13 and wounding 21 people before
taking their own lives.

It was the most devastating school shooting in U.S. history and became a
springboard for increased school security and federal grants to support the
program.

"I'm there to enforce the law, to educate the kids and also for
counseling," Treacy said.

There are more than 6,500 school resource officers nationwide, initially
hired with funding from federal Department of Justice grants. Locally, many
communities have continued the position after their grants expired.

Many school officials and police chiefs say the officers' presence in
schools gives students a familiar authority figure to confide in and may
help stop trouble before it starts.

But not everyone is convinced a school resource officer is needed.

Abington School Superintendent John Aherne said his district has had a
safety officer for 15 years and said that arrangement has worked well
without the need for a resource officer.

"I definitely feel that's adequate," he said.

Resource officers have full police powers and are armed, while school
security or safety personnel are not, police and school administrators say.

Abington School Committee member Patricia Vantine said the police safety
officer there already does a good job.

"I need to learn more," she said. "Is it legitimate? We're not a big city."

For those who do want the officers, there is less money now for the grants.
The federal appropriation was cut by the Bush administration from $118.7
million in fiscal 2004 to $10 million in fiscal 2005.

And because some local funds are needed to take advantage of the federal
program, budget constraints in the community also can block participation.

The grant program provides a maximum of $175,000 per position over a
three-year period, with any remaining costs being paid at the local level.
The program requires a new position be established, though the person
filling the position may be from within the local police department. In
that case, a new officer would be hired to fill the department vacancy.

Additional costs would be paid with local funds and the program requires
the position be maintained with local funding for at least one year after
the grant expires.

Bridgewater dropped its resource officer last year because of local budget
cuts, but Bridgewater-Raynham High School hopes to regain the position.

"In an indirect way, it changes the atmosphere of the school," said Alan
Peabody, assistant principal at B-R High School. "I didn't see him as a
deterrent as much as protection."

Resource officers are hired and trained in accordance with local police
hiring practices and paid in accordance with local salary schedules. They
answer to the police chief and also receive special training through the
federal Department of Justice program.

The grant requires resource officers spend 75 percent of their time in
school. When school is not in session, resource officers typically work
into the local police rotation.

One of them is Whitman school resource officer Christopher Lee.

On a typical day at Whitman Middle School, Lee greets students, mingles
with them as they pass in the corridors during classes and at the end of
the day as they leave for home.

He spends much of his time at Whitman Middle School and shares duties at
Whitman-Hanson Regional High School with resource officer Brian Watson of
Hanson.

"The majority of kids don't want to speak to police," Lee said. "We get to
know them and they get to know that police officers aren't bad."

Lee said most often, another student will lead them to a youth heading for
trouble or someone with a problem.

"Somebody will tell you where the parties are, if somebody's having a bad
time at home or being abused or if anybody's holding drugs or drinking," he
said. "They'll tell you a lot."

Lee said police have seen a drop in teen drinking parties in recent years
and attributed that to the resource officer program.

John Pladsen, whose son Matt attends Whitman Middle School, said he was
unaware of the role of the police officer, but has made some observations.

"My son does feel more comfortable with police," Pladsen said. "He feels
more friendly."

Stoughton has two school resource officers, both funded by the town.
Middleboro has a resource officer, while Holbrook is seeking to establish
the position.

Carver Police Chief Arthur A. Parker Jr. said there was a school resource
officer on board when he was chief in Williamstown and he is doing research
to see if it would be feasible in Carver.

Plymouth last year rejected a $500,000 grant for four resource officers
because local funding was not available. Just last week, Planning Board
Chairman Loring Tripp III recommended that $480,000 being contributed to
the town by a developer be used to put cops in the schools. Both police and
school leaders support the move, he told the Planning Board.

Whitman Police Chief John Schnyer intends to keep a cop in the schools
there after the federal grant expires this year. Whitman-Hanson has a
school security director who works in tandem with resource officers from
both communities, police said.

"We find that it works well and serves a purpose," said Schnyer. "Having
police presence in schools today is something we need. It's prevention."

Taunton initially paid overtime to have a police officer in the schools,
then in 2001 assigned Treacy as the school resource officer, though the
position was paid with local funds. In 2002, the city received a federal
grant for the position, which Treacy continues to fill.

Abington Police Chief David Majenski had hoped to tap into the federal
funding to establish the school resource officer post in that town, but
Superintendent Aherne said he did not have enough time or information to
take a stand on the issue before the May application deadline.

Now, Majenski is preparing to ask annual town meeting for $45,000 to fund
the position and is hoping for support from the School Department. Police
and school leaders are expected to meet on Tuesday with new Town Manager
Phillip Warren Jr.

With the federal cuts, Majenski said the chances of receiving a grant have
been greatly diminished.

Last month, police arrested an Abington High School student on a variety of
drug charges, including distribution of marijuana in the school parking lot.

"This wouldn't have come about with a police officer active in the school,"
Majenski said. "I don't think it would have gotten to the point where this
kid was selling $1,000 (of marijuana) a week."

First, he said, a student would be less likely to bring illegal drugs or
weapons into school with a police officer there. And other students would
be more likely to share information about drugs or other illegal activity
with a police officer they knew, the chief said.

While a resource officer is a valuable conduit of information between the
schools and police, he or she also plays a role in safety, bullying,
cultural diversity and drug-prevention programs, and in social services.

"If there are issues such as abuse going on at home, students have a
familiar person to go to," Majenski said.

In Brockton, there are school police officers hired by the School
Department and five resource officers dedicated to the middle schools,
where their duties include teaching anti-gang and other crime-prevention
programs.

Officer Jason Sullivan, assigned to Brockton's East Junior High School,
arrested a man who had bolt cutters in hand and was near the school bike
rack where another bike had just been stolen. Sgt. Benjamin J. Mackiewicz
Jr., Middleboro's school resource officer, was credited with uncovering an
after-school "fight club" at Middleboro High School.

Vice Principal Stephen F. Dexter said the only inkling about the student
fight club, based on the darkly violent movie of the same name, came from
Mackiewicz. It was the school resource officer to whom a mother turned when
her son came home with a bloodied nose.

A school resource officer was assigned to Bridgewater-Raynham High School
for three years before the position was cut because of funding issues in
Bridgewater. Raynham kept its resource officer after the grant expired.

Raynham school resource officer Louis Pacheco, 35, said a police presence
in the building would have made a difference in the case of two youths
recently arrested for drug dealing at B-R High School.

"When there's a police officer on the school grounds, generally you're
going to hear stuff that's going on," said Pacheco, who spends about 80
percent of his time at Raynham middle and elementary schools.

Pacheco said he sees his role as building relationships with youths more
than stopping crime. The issues run the gamut, from dating and abuse to
child custody.

"I think I do more guidance and social work than I do police work," said
Pacheco, also coach of Bridgewater-Raynham's track team.

Some students said having an officer in school makes them feel safer.

East Bridgewater High School is a small school and safe, according to
junior Latasha Richards, but she said the presence of resource officer John
Grillo adds another layer of security.

"He does keep a good lookout," she said, recalling him being involved in
just one incident when a student brought illegal drugs to school.

Parent Andrea Keddie of Abington recalled the two students charged in the
fall with plotting a Columbine-like massacre at Marshfield High School.

"With the change in times and with what happened in Marshfield, I think
police protection is a good thing," said Keddie.