Marlboro Adds Armed Police Officers To All Schools

MARLBORO, NJ — Marlboro Twp. has decided to assign an armed police officer to each of the eight district public schools, the Township announced Wednesday. The officers will be in schools effective immediately and will remain there until summer vacation. The officers will be in place during normal school hours.

The decision was made by Marlboro Mayor Jon Hornik,with the cooperation of Superintendent Dr. Eric Hibbs and the Board of Education, along with Marlboro Police Chief Bruce Hall.

The Township and the Board of Ed. agreed to share the cost of the officers for the final three months of the 2017/18 school year.

Under the plan, existing Marlboro police officers will be assigned to each of the K-8 schools for the remainder of the 2017/18 school year. For the school year beginning in September, the Township has already begun the process of hiring new “Class III Special Law Enforcement Officers."

Class III Officers are recently retired police officers (out of service for fewer than three years) who function under the command of the municipal police force and may carry a firearm.

Marlboro Twp. has had SROs in the schools for many years, but until now police officers were not in each school full-time.

The jurisdiction of these officers is limited to school property.

“Recently in Maryland, a School Resource Officer (SRO) engaged and pursued the shooter and, by all accounts, prevented this incident from being a far greater tragedy," said Marlboro Mayor Jon Hornik. "While it would be nice to pretend that that we did not live in a society that requires armed police officers in our schools it is not the reality.”

Surveillance cameras are already in place in all Marlboro Twp. public schools, and each school building received a security upgrade after the Florida shooting. Additional measures are in place but not discussed publicly so as not to compromise security.”