The Las Cruces Public School Board reviewed a series of proposals Tuesday night concerning police presence within education facilities.
In a 3-1 vote, the board approved a Memorandum of Understanding between the district and the city of Las Cruces to allow for the services of school resource officers during the 2020-21 school year.
The district will not be charged for the services of resource officers until schools begin to physically reopen.
Board Member Teresa Tenorio, the only member to vote against the motion, brought up concerns regarding the presence of guns in schools. She cited a 2019 incident at Picacho Middle School, where a now former resource officer discharged his gun.
Las Cruces Public School Safety and Security Coordinator Todd Gregory addressed those concerns, stating the weapons are a necessity only to be used in extreme situations.
“I'm only aware of that one incident where there was an issue with an SRO not utilizing or following proper procedure,” Gregory said. “We've had plenty of others threats and other issues at schools over the years that posed unarmed threats on campus, more than we have with law enforcement.”
An additional proposed Memorandum of Understanding, between the town of Mesilla and the district for school resource and community service officers at Zia Middle School and Rio Grande Preparatory Institute, was not approved. School Board President Terrie Dallman and Board Member Tenorio both voted against the motion.
A main topic of concern was that the memorandum allowed for at-home visits from resource officers, something Tenorio says could be traumatic for some families.
“Some of these families may not have good relationships with law enforcement,” Tenorio said “And you know unfortunately when you have a police officer show up and you're struggling already to be engaged in school, and you have other family circumstances that are keeping you from that, I think it would be really intimidating for them.”
Dallman agrees, sharing that these additional duties differ from the roles of student resource officers in other cities.
“These were additional duties that have been altered as far as the job description for this particular SRO. These are not the duties that for example the city of Las Cruces SROs handle,” Dallman said. “I taught at Zia for eight years and I know some of these students were dealing with, undocumented students, and so that’s another issue altogether.”
Superintendent Karen Trujillo reminded the group the presence of resource officers for welfare checks are not uncommon.
“We have welfare checks that require a police presence,” Trujillo said. “It's not unheard of for SROs to also respond to those, so it is done in conjunction with our counselors and social workers.”
The board also considered a motion to continue the Drug Abuse Resistance Education Program [DARE] which did not pass. Dallman and Tenorio voted against offering DARE, in favor of finding a more modern program.
Board Member Ray Jaramillo feels it’s better to keep the program until a new curriculum can be identified.
“It just made sense to me to have this and then look for something in the future rather than it not be there, and now we have nothing,” Jaramillo said. “I feel like we should have had something in place.”
Other proposals the board approved included a motion allowing for police support for sporting events, school threats and search needs, as well as the use of New Mexico Mounted Patrol volunteers to support the Las Cruces Police Department with district needs.
