Middletown Will Place Armed Retired Police Officers In All Schools

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — At their meeting Tuesday night, the Middletown school board voted to place armed, Class 3 police officers in every school in the district starting in September.

This was a unanimous vote: All nine BOE members voted to hire and place armed Special Law Enforcement Officers – Class 3 in all 16 schools in the Middletown school district.

This was in response to the Uvalde, Texas school massacre, where 19 elementary school students and two teaches were shot to death, said Middletown school board vice president Jacqueline Tobacco, who strongly supports and advocated for this step.

This is the first time Middletown schools will have armed police officers in every school building.

Middletown Mayor Tony Perry, a Republican, said he first proposed putting armed police officers in all public schools when he first took office in 2019, "but at the time, the school board leadership in the shared services committed did not want the officers to be armed," said Perry.

"The morning immediately after Uvalde, I called (Middletown BOE President) Frank Capone and told him I wanted to make this work," said the mayor. "The town will be paying the retired special police officers out of the police department budget, and the school district will pay us back. At our next meeting June 6, the Township Committee plans to unanimously approve this and make this happen."

"The community was really pushing for this," said Tobacco on Wednesday morning. "It's a good step. We're really hoping it makes the children feel really secure and get back to learning and not worrying about things."

"This action, along with increased funding for mental health services, is a commitment from our administration, board and Township to put our children first and foremost," she wrote on Facebook. (The Middletown school district has hired additional guidance counselors in the past six months; added tiered support services at every level in the elementary, middle and high schools, and now has mental health professional development workshops for staff and parents.)

Capone said he wanted to "thank" all the BOE members for unanimously agreeing to hire the armed officers.

Capone also said Gov. Phil Murphy and the state teachers' union should be reimbursing schools for the cost of having armed officers in schools.

“The governor, in collaboration with the NJEA, should be reimbursing these costs for armed police throughout the state of New Jersey," said Capone. "If we can protect the governor and state house officials, we should protect the children and the staff that we all cherish and love dearly."

You can read the Letter of Intent unanimously approved by the board Tuesday night to hire the armed officers: https://www.middletownk12.org/...

From now through the end of the school year in June, Middletown put a temporary measure in place last week: Armed, off-duty Middletown police officers in all schools. Through a special arrangement the school district worked out with the Middletown Police Department, these off-duty officers are being paid $50 per hour, according to Tobacco.

That is far under the normal overtime rate for Middletown Police.

These officers are armed and carry guns.

However, by the time school resumes in September, the district aims to have a Class 3 special police officer, carrying a gun, in place in every school in the district. Class 3 is a special class of officers and they have to meet certain qualifications, explained Tobacco: They must be retired from a police agency within the last three years and undergo special school security training.

Most of the officers will be retired from the Middletown Police Department, however they do not specifically have to come from Middletown, she said.

"We expect to look at departments in Atlantic Highlands and other nearby towns," she said. "These officers will report to Middletown Police Chief R. Craig Weber, not the Township or school district."

These Class 3 officers will be paid $35 an hour, which is much less than the rate for off-duty police, but Tobacco still acknowledged will be "a significant expense" for the Middletown school district in the 2022-23 school year.

"It is a significant expense for sure, and one that will be 100 percent funded by the Board of Education — not the town or Middletown Police Department," she said.

Tobacco said she did not know offhand the exact total figure for how much armed retired police officers would cost. The district just started the hiring process and it will continue throughout the summer.

"However, this is way more affordable than we ever thought it would be," she said.

She did say that the costs will be slightly lower as the district does not have to provide health insurance for the Class 3 officers, are they are technically retired police officers.

However, despite the cost, Tobacco said in summary: "This expenditure was necessary. We are grateful for the assistance of Chief Weber and Mayor Perry in facilitating this so quickly.”