State budget has school resource officer funding

http://www.wgrz.com/story/news/2014/05/29/state-budget-has-school-resource-officer-funding/9752467/

This year's New York State budget has a new initiative that could help keep children safer in school.

For the first time, the state budget includes several million dollars to help school districts afford shared school resource officers.

The program will place trained law enforcement professionals in schools where they can protect children during school hours.

Last year Senator Patrick Gallivan put a grant together to allow five local schools to share an officer, which was a big success.

He hopes that close to 30 percent of all schools will be able to take advantage of the program this fall.

"We have $1.92 million in the budget, working the next two weeks to put together the program, and schools across the state can apply for a shared officer."

Gallivan told 2 On your Side on Thursday that the program will focus on school safety and relationship-building between students and a police officer. Ideally, he would like to see only two schools sharing an officer.

Schools will be able to apply over the next few weeks.