“I thought that at some point in time, this might be an inevitability when the district decided to move away from having school resource officers,” said Mike Koval, Madison’s former Police Chief.
Koval is talking about the school district’s decision to remove resource officers from its four high schools last year.
“I think they made a strategically poor long-term answer based on sort of a political knee-jerk reaction,” Koval said.
Some parents and students want resource officers back here inside schools and Madison’s former police chief says resource officers would be a complementary piece of the learning environment.
“Resources officers, they are part of a collaboration team, social workers, school nurses, administration, the officers are very good at de-escalation, proactive engagement, learning and listening to what the dynamics are within the school.”
Michael Johnson, President & CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Dane County, agrees.