Chester County deputies dropped by schools now on patrol

Chester County will keep four deputies who worked as school resource officers until district officials decided to replace the deputies with private security officers.

In the 2015-16 budget, approved by the Chester County Council last week and filed Tuesday, county officials decided to absorb the $100,000 cost of four deputies assigned as school resource officers for the Chester County school district. School officials decided in April to use a private security firm starting July 1.

The deputies have been placed in the patrol division, said sheriff’s spokesman Chief Deputy Robert Sprouse.

“We’ll put those deputies on patrol and use them where the sheriff sees fit,” Sprouse said. “We’d still like to have more officers on patrol.”

Sheriff Alex Underwood has asked the council for more money to hire more deputies since he was elected in 2012, and requested eight more deputies in this budget in addition to absorbing the four school resource officers. He was not available to comment Tuesday.

Underwood said previously that he was not included in discussions between county and school district leaders, and that it’s better to have trained law enforcement officers in schools.

The 6,000-student district and Chester County previously split the cost of the four deputies. The sheriff’s office provided equipment, training, vehicles and other costs of having a deputy at two campuses in Chester and one each for district schools in Lewisville and Great Falls.

The school system’s plan, set to take effect July 1, puts one security officer at each of the district’s nine campuses, which school officials said was an improvement, according to previous reports. The officers will be armed and have the power to arrest.

School district officials had requested the money the county spends on resource officers to help pay Defender Services, which will provide the officers; however, the county voted instead to allocate money from a federal grant program to the school district. County Supervisor Shane Stuart said the grant, up to $54,000 this year and which must go toward schools or roads, will go to the Chester County school district.

A district spokeswoman declined to comment Tuesday. Messages left with Agnes Slayman, superintendent of Chester County schools, were not returned late Tuesday afternoon, and a message for Defender Services was not returned.

Chester County school officials have placed an emphasis on security since the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, and said in April the decision to use private security was part of that effort.

This story was originally published June 30, 2015 at 8:18 PM with the headline "Chester County deputies dropped by schools now on patrol."