Harford Adds Elementary School Resource Officers

HARFORD COUNTY, MD — The Harford County Sheriff's Office is expanding its school resource officer program to include elementary schools. Three school resource officers will be assigned to cover 27 elementary schools in the county that fall outside the municipalities.

"It is not a one-on-one deputy-to-school funding," Gahler said.

School resource officers Kathryn Coffin, Lee Mink and Diana Ciaramellano will each cover nine schools, where they will get to know students and become experts in the campuses. They will have a presence at the school and provide support for students and staff.

Last year more new school resource officers, or SROs, were added in Harford County after a town hall that drew hundreds of concerned parents following the shooting in Parkland, Florida.

"Parents in the community wanted to see SROs" at elementary schools and middle schools, Gahler said. In 2018 after that town hall meeting, the county added SROs to middle schools.

At a press conference announcing the new additions to elementary schools, the sheriff said the SRO program now includes 20 officers.

Havre de Grace is the only municipality in Harford County that has school resource officers in all schools, a decision the city made after the Newtown school shootings in Connecticut in 2012. Its program is run through the Havre de Grace Police Department.

The town of Bel Air and city of Aberdeen have school resource officers assigned in their high schools; and for the elementary and middle schools, there's an officer who "roves between them," Gahler said.

The addition of school resource officers to elementary schools across Harford County will be "life-changing for our students" and "potentially life saving," Harford County Public Schools Superintendent Sean Bulson said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon about the expansion.

Harford County spends $3 million a year on the school resource officer program, County Executive Barry Glassman said at the event. He noted the county funded security camera upgrades and improvements in radio communication systems last year.

Funding for the elementary school resource officers in Harford County is being made possible by a $381,895 grant from the Maryland Center for School Safety.

Once the SROs start Nov. 16, Gahler said their jobs as deputies will be filled by three recruits who are currently in training.

RELATED:

• Harford Sheriff Requests Tweaks To School Resource Officer Bill
• Harford County School Safety Forum Draws Hundreds
• Harford County Announces $1.198M School Safety Investment Plan

Watch the press conference where authorities announced the expansion of the SRO program: