Local News

Clinton School Resource Officer Discusses Proposal to Remove SROs from School Setting

A law enforcement reform bill in Illinois passed last month removed a provision to have school resource officers removed from the school setting unless an emergency required their presence.

 

Not only are local school leaders not happy about that but predictably, law enforcement officials are not either. Clinton Police Department's school resource officer Mike Bennett on the WHOW Morning Show Wednesday told Regional Radio News the SRO is often misunderstood for all the things they do in a school in a given day.

 

 

Officer Bennett believes not only is his presence a deterrent to school violence but he believes the relationships he's forming with the youth of the buildings make a difference. He points out those are intangible impacts that make a difference every day.

 

 

Many believe the bill is going to circle back around sooner rather than later, and Bennett is among those. He believes lawmakers wanted to see the reaction and now they will adjust it accordingly.

 

 

Clinton Schools Superintendent Curt Nettles has vowed to drive to Springfield to speak before the legislature if the bill comes back up. He says there is absolutely no reason Springfield should be legislating schools cannot have school resource officers in their buildings. 

Townhall Top of the Hour News

Local Weather - Sponsored By:

CLINTON WEATHER

Local News

DeWittDN on Facebook