Cops to stay in schools

June 18, 2009 | 11:45 AM
Rumors of the Suffolk police's presence in schools disappearing as a result of community patrol scheduling changes are unfounded, Commissioner Richard Dormer said Monday.

After a Friday Newsday story regarding the department's reassignment of Community Oriented Policing Enforcement officers, some area school officials and Suffolk cops expressed fears that this move meant an end to the school resource officer program, staffed by COPE officers.

Each precinct has an SRO who spends much of their time visiting schools to aid faculty in resolving disputes regarding potential legal infractions, in addition to mentoring students. COPE officers aim to get to know specific communities and develop long-term solutions to neighborhood-specific crimes and quality of life issues.

"The student resource program is certainly not going to be eliminated," the police commissioner said. He spoke highly of the value of the program to schools and students.

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Effective as of Tuesday, the department's 90-member COPE corps will begin patrolling seven days a week as opposed to the five — Tuesday through Saturday — that the officers had been on duty up until now, according to Dormer.

The move allows the COPE cops to be present at a growing number of community events, like carnivals, fundraising races and street fairs, being held on Sundays without incurring additional costs. There was often a police presence at such events before the change, but "if we want to send COPE to these events, we have to pay overtime," Dormer said. The expense-saving measure was initiated by the commissioner, although County Executive Steve Levy "was apprised of it," Dormer added.

In order to have COPE patrol an extra two days a week without increasing the size of the unit or paying overtime, the department has cut the number of COPE officers on patrol at any given time from five to four, the commissioner said. Meanwhile, the officers who patrol in sector cars are being trained to fill in for COPE officers when needed, he said.

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