Officials with the Nine Mile School District in Stevens County are looking at options for school security. The district lies at the southern end of Stevens County.
Superintendent Brian Talbot says the rural community is dependent on county sheriff's deputies when an emergency occurs.
“When I talk about Nine Mile, we're in a different situation than Colville or Chewelah, both of those having a local police force, ” said Talbot.
There are 12 school districts in Stevens County, and the sheriff’s department provides security to eight of those, all in unincorporated areas.
At Nine Mile Falls, Talbot says discussions about hiring a school resource officer have come up, but financing such a position is problematic. The estimated cost is about $130,000.
Stevens County Sheriff Kendall Allenhas come up with a new concept that he pitched last week to all the county's school superintendents.
“We would go out to the counties, in all the school districts and find volunteers that would be picked from the school district they live in. Those volunteers would be vetted by the school district, and by the sheriff’s office,” said Allen.
He believes qualified people could be found to become volunteer school resource officers.
“You've got to remember you have a wide range of people in the Suncrest/Nine Mile area. There’s retired military, retired law enforcement, people that are off during the week and work weekends,” Allen said.
The sheriff says any potential candidate would receive special training in order to become a resource officer.
Superintendent Talbot says he likes the idea, and at this early stage is running the concept by the company that provides insurance coverage to the district to get their feedback. He says that includes the idea that the resource officers could carry firearms.
“You know there are a couple of schools in this state that do arm administrators. And they are part of that same insurance provider. However they do have to get another umbrella coverage, so this might be the same,” said Talbot.
Talbot says the Nine Mile Falls school board would take public input on the idea of volunteer school resource officers before making any decision to move forward.
