Relates to school safety measures

Showing the cosponsors who are on Agora, A to Z. The official record may list more.

• Republican6

Shown in neutral colors by design; Agora is non-partisan.

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Patrick M. Gallivan says this is needed

School Resource Officers are great assets to school districts striving to enhance school safety. As can been seen, they are not just hired security guards. They collaborate with educators, parents, and children to provide comprehensive security and educational services to the school they serve. They develop educational programs, prevent drug abuse, and minimize violence. They are educators, law enforcers, and counselors. Police officers are ideal for this job, because of their specialized knowledge that enhances a school's environmental safety planning and facilities management, school-safety policy, and emergency response preparedness. This bill would provide a specific definition of School Resource Offi- cer, requiring such persons to be experienced active duty or retired members of law enforcement. It further provides, for the first time, an important state aid component, which will allow all schools across the state, to have the necessary funds to retain the services of such inval- uable public protection. Because the cost of hiring a full-time police officer to serve as a School Resource Officer is often prohibitive to both police departments and school districts, to solve this financial problem, a school district can hire a retired police officer, state trooper or deputy sheriff to serve as their school resource officer. Such individuals possess the necessary experience and training, but could be paid less than an active duty police officer due to their retired status. These retired officers' however, no longer possess the same legal peace officer status that they did when they were on active duty. This bill seeks to correct this important issue by providing those retired police officers who are employed as School Resource Officers with full peace officer powers. These powers include the ability to arrest as well as to carry an armed weapon on school grounds while on duty. These powers thereby enable a School Resource Officer to effec- tively protect the school, its students, faculty and visitors from wrongdoers. It should be noted that this bill in no way grants a school district any licensing authority for the School Resource Officer to carry a firearm, and such retired police officer would still have to be licensed pursuant to all the requirements and standards of section 400 of the Penal Law. Additionally, as noted above, as retired police officers, state troopers and deputy sheriffs are an extremely well-qualified, and affordable alternative to traditional active duty police officers, deputy sheriffs and state troopers as any effort to protect our students, faculty and visitors at schools, this bill would further address another important legal impediment concerning their employment as School Resource Offi- cers, the state's earnings limitations law. Currently, retired public employees must apply for a Waiver in order to earn more than $30,000 per year. This process can often become burden- some and time consuming. As a result, the present cap on earnings can thereby deter those best qualified, and most experienced to provide the highest quality public protection from becoming school resource officers. This bill would allow school districts to hire retired police officers without needing a Waiver for an annual salary of less than $50,000. As School Resource Officers most often only work during the school year (180 days) and as they already have a retirement income and in most cases benefits such as health care, this new, increased earnings limita- tion seeks to provide a sufficient and reasonable incentive for these trained, experienced former police officers to provide service in this new and important role.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.