In a strongly-worded memorandum to Hope Mills Town Manager Chancer McLaughlin last week, Hope Mills Police Chief Stephen Dollinger revealed Cumberland County Sheriff Ennis Wright’s decision to remove school resource officers and crossing guards from many public schools took almost everyone involved by surprise.
“I have spoken to Chief Braden from Fayetteville PD and Spring Lake PD Interim Chief Errol Jarman called Captain Deaver,” Dollinger wrote in the May 22 memo. “Both were taken aback by the abrupt ending of the long-standing practice of CCSO providing these services and the placing of these responsibilities on the local towns.”
In fact, Wright’s own employees were taken aback by the decision, Dollinger said later in the letter.
“The feedback I have received from a source at the Sheriff’s Office is their personnel were unaware this was occurring and were as surprised as we were,” Dollinger wrote.
A May 24 email from McLaughlin to town commissioners, the mayor and Dollinger stated Commissioner Glenn Adams, chairman of the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners, indicated he also wasn’t warned of the impending change.
Wright notified local police chiefs of his decision to only assign deputies to schools in unincorporated areas of Cumberland County on May 21, CityView previously reported. The change is set to take effect July 1, the day after the school board’s $3.2 million contract with Wright for SROs ends. Wright’s last-minute notice may have been in violation of the contract, which stipulates each party must notify the other of its decision to renew or terminate the agreement by April 15 of each year.
Elected officials have shared concerns that the change will put a larger burden on municipalities that have had little time to prepare for it. The decision creates 18 school resource officer vacancies and 31 crossing guard vacancies in at least 50 schools in Fayetteville, seven schools in Hope Mills and three schools in Spring Lake, according to a presentation scheduled to be given at an 8:30 a.m. Thursday meeting of the school board’s Auxiliary Services committee at the Central Services building.
SROs are employees of the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, which has contracted with the school board each year for more than two decades to assign its deputies to specific schools to perform a range of duties, including serving as crossing guards and assisting with community outreach as school resource officers.
Each elementary school is assigned a part-time school resource officer who rotates between three or four schools, while each middle and high school has a full-time officer, according to Dollinger’s letter.
Why did it happen?
Dollinger said in his memo the decision came because of staffing issues at the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, though he did not say who that information came from.
Lt. Patrice Bogertey, a spokesperson for the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, responded to requests for comment Wednesday with the following statement: “We are aware that a letter from Sheriff Ennis W. Wright to Chief Kemberle Braden is currently being shared on social media. This letter pertains to a meeting scheduled for June 6, 2024, where changes to School Resource and Traffic Control Officers will be discussed.”
Bogertey said the June 6 meeting will not be open to the public because of security concerns.
“To the extent possible, a formal statement will be issued subsequent to the meeting,” she wrote.
Dollinger highlighted in his letter the extra work the decision could create for his department.
“Although I understand the necessity of the Sheriff having to make this difficult decision, it inevitably places the responsibility of answering calls for service, providing security, and arranging for the safe crossing of students on our department,” Dollinger wrote, adding that the change would lead to “an extreme burden” on the Hope Mills Police Department.
In his letter to the town manager, Dollinger identified the following issues related to the SRO and crossing guard removal:
- Safety concerns
- Security at after-hours events like football games — school resource officers and other deputies currently provide security and are paid an hourly rate between $40 to $45 by the school system
- Not enough Hope Mills Police Department officers to serve as school resource officers or provide security at extracurricular events
- The cost of hiring and providing equipment for additional officers to work as school resource officers and crossing guards
- The time needed to hire and train additional officers to serve in these roles — Dollinger said officers have a five-to-seven-week turnaround for processing, so hiring would need to begin immediately
- The requirement of 120 to 400 hours of training for school resource officer certification
- The need for an additional supervisor at the police department to supervise the school resource officers and their scheduling
- Potential liability on the town’s part if it decides not to hire school resource officers and violence or a traffic accident occurs at a school
- The additional manpower required to handle extra calls at the schools, as school resource officers currently handle any calls or incidents that occur there
Ultimately, Dollinger said, he does not recommend the town of Hope Mills supply school resource officers or crossing guards.
“Once you take on these responsibilities, it is difficult to end the practice later,” he wrote. “God forbid, [if] the Town assigns SROs to schools and decides later to remove them and an active violence situation occurs, there will be outrage and finger pointing at the Town for removing them, not to mention lawsuits.”
Dollinger theorized that the sheriff’s office hoped to transfer liability to individual municipalities by making the change, adding he believed those plans included discontinuing providing assistance to local agencies. Wright’s office currently provides crime scene technicians for the Hope Mills and Spring Lake police departments.
What can Hope Mills do?
To mitigate his concerns, Dollinger recommended the town:
- Hire two additional officers to train as crime scene technicians
- Increase the Hope Mills Police Department’s authorized staffing level from 45 officers to 54 officers
- Hire another four officers to ensure each patrol squad has a sergeant and six officers assigned to it
- Eliminate the animal control officer position to save the department $100,000. Animal control is already provided by the county for free and the officer averages one call per shift, Dollinger said.
“I do not make these recommendations lightly,” he wrote. “I completely understand the financial limitations of the Town.”
According to Dollinger’s letter, an assistant county manager indicated Cumberland County could hire the town’s animal control officer for its animal services department so they remain employed.
In addition to his recommendations, Dollinger said the town could hire people currently working as crossing guards or school resource officers for the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office.
“We can explore both possibilities when the time comes, depending on the course of action we choose to take regarding the increased responsibilities being dumped on us by CCSO no longer [providing] these services to schools within town limits,” he wrote.
Regardless of the choice the town makes, Dollinger emphasized in his letter the challenge the transition will represent for municipalities.
“I know transferring these responsibilities is going to be a hardship for all local police agencies within Cumberland County, especially with the short notice provided by CCSO,” he said.
Local police chiefs are scheduled to meet with Wright at 2:30 p.m. June 6. Additionally, the Hope Mills Board of Commissioners will hold a special meeting on the issue at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Town Hall.
Reporter Lexi Solomon can be reached at lsolomon@cityviewnc.com or 910-423-6500.
This story was made possible by contributions to CityView News Fund, a 501c3 charitable organization committed to an informed democracy.
