Milford Candidate Addresses SROs In Schools

Press release from Democratic candidate for state representative Bryan Anderson: In recent days there have been discussions about a bill that was introduced by Senator Chris Murphy in the United States Senate that would allocate federal funds to school counselors and social workers and would not allow federal funds to be used to hire more in-school police officers, also known as School Resource Officers. The bill does not eliminate these officers from our local schools, as has been suggested by my opponent. In fact, the language makes it clear that local school districts should have the ability to decide for themselves whether having school resource officers in the schools is something the local community wants.

In Milford, after years of annual requests by Chief Mello and the Milford Police Department to create School Resource Officers, agreement was reached in 2013 between the Board of Education, Superintendent of Schools, Police Commission, Mayor Ben Blake and Board of Aldermen to evenly divide the salaries and benefits of SRO’s between the Milford Police Department and Milford Public Schools.As an aldermanic leader on budget and education issues, I was tasked with offering the amendment at a Board of Alderman budget hearing that added 4 School Resource Officer positions to the city’s budget under that agreement. After some discussion, the amendment passed in a bipartisan vote.

I regard my years as a public school educator and a graduate of the Milford Police Department’s Citizen Police Academy program as offering a unique perspective to the discussion of adding School Resource Officers to our city’s schools. The program has been an unparalleled success and has positioned Milford Public Schools as a model of how a School Resource Officer program can work well.

I will continue to be an advocate for this type of safety and security program in our schools when elected to be our State Representative in the 119th House District, representing Milford and Orange. Sending someone to Hartford who has taken the important votes on this issue locally is especially important as our schools begin the reopening process from the the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Sincerely,

Bryan Anderson, Milford

Former Alderman (2011-2019)

Democratic candidate for State Representative (119th District)

This press release was produced by Democratic candidate for state representative Bryan Anderson. The views expressed here are the author's own.