Hamilton Schools adding police security

Hamilton Schools and the city’s police department have announced a joint agreement to place five additional police officers on patrol in schools starting in August. FILE PHOTO

Hamilton Schools and the city’s police department have announced a joint agreement to place five additional police officers on patrol in schools starting in August. FILE PHOTO

There will be more police in Hamilton Schools when classes open in August.

A joint agreement between the city schools and Hamilton Police Department will mean five additional police officers — also known as school resource officers (SROs) — will be assigned to school security duty next school year, said city and school officials.

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“This collaboration helps us to ensure the safety and security of our schools while providing an excellent opportunity to build and strengthen relationships with students, parents and educators,” Hamilton Police Chief Craig Bucheit said.

The five officers are to be assigned to the district’s secondary schools — Hamilton High School, Hamilton Freshman School, Garfield and Wilson Middle Schools and the Miami School.

The school district will pay SRO salaries while they work in the buildings, and the city will pay them during the times school is not in session.

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The officers will receive specialized training for the SRO assignments and will also be certified in ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) training.

Hamilton Schools, which enroll 9,730 students in the Butler County city, had its final day of classes Wednesday.

Classes begin again Aug. 14.

“Providing a safe learning environment for our students and staff is one of our highest priorities. Through our partnership with the Hamilton Police Department, we were able to secure outstanding school resource officers for our buildings,” said Hamilton Schools Superintendent Tony Orr.

Police officials said interested officers applied to the school jobs posting and were interviewed by police and school administrators. Officers were then selected as one of the five SROs.

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