Mishawaka seeing success placing resource officers in all city schools

MISHAWAKA — The effort to put school resource officers (SROs) in all Mishawaka schools has gained traction as School City of Mishawaka moves to fulfill its goal to enhance school safety.

Since January, there have been six new reserve police officers selected to begin duties in elementary schools. The city police department currently has one SRO at Mishawaka High School, one at John Young Middle School and one that rotated among the city's seven elementary schools.

Kory LaBonne, director of human resources and school safety, said the assurances included in the May 2022 school referendum passed by taxpayers called for resource officers in all schools.

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Soon after, however, he said, the police department began to explore a new shift structure that would put 12-hour patrol shifts into play, changing the scope and methods in bringing together the SRO plan.

The committee putting the plan together ended up with a hybrid plan, where the school district would hire a total of 10 reserve police officers — who will be trained or retrained and will have arrest powers — to staff all seven elementary schools and to eventually replace the three Mishawaka police officers currently assigned to Mishawaka High School and John Young Middle School and the rotating SRO for elementary use.

The SROs are school district employees. People selected for the program are sworn in by the city as reserve police officers with arrest capabilities, with the police department being responsible for training, equipment and oversight.

In the May 2022 referendum, the district earmarked $480,000 annually for the SRO program expansion.

"It's not uncommon for school districts to have resource officers," LaBonne said. "I would say we probably are ahead of the curve by having one in every single one of our locations."

While the school district's former operating referendum addressed safety and security measures such as the installation of secure vestibules in many of the schools, LaBonne said the SRO program addresses what he called "the missing component" of the potential episodes or incidents of armed or active intruders.

"(Incidents) are over relatively quickly," LaBonne said. "If we can have somebody who is armed, trained, equipped, prepared to intervene the second a concern arises, the probability of keeping students safe and secure, keeping staff safe and secure and the community safe and secure surely increases."

The role of a resource officer also has an educational component. Patrolman Emma Overton, who last week was sworn in by the Board of Public Works and Safety and just started her role as SRO at Twin Branch Elementary School, spent a lunch hour for second-graders waving and being present while the students and staff ate lunch.

"We were fortunate and exceed expectations pretty quickly in terms of not knowing about how this was going to be received by retiring officers from the police force," LaBonne said. "Fortunately, we were able to find really quality people rather quickly, and the interest was there right away."

Staffs in the schools have been "overwhelmingly positive" about having SROs in the schools, LaBonne said.

He said he recently was returning to the Administration Center, which is next door to Emmons Elementary School, and saw SRO Randy Peppers enjoying lunch outside with two students.

Sgt. Mark Flemming, SRO at Liberty Elementary School, takes daily walks with a couple of students. "It sets them on the right pace for the day, giving them the right mind space. He has already moved into that mentor role."

The early success of the Mishawaka SRO plan is something LaBonne said he hopes the district can continue for years to come.

"We hope we can leverage it to the greatest extent possible," he said, "to ensure that all buildings, all schools, all students, all staff, all visitors are safe and secure at all times."

Email Tribune staff writer Greg Swiercz at gswiercz@sbtinfo.com

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Mishawaka student resource officer plans seeing early success