Column: County sheriff defends reaching out for help in providing school resource officers

If Ennis Wright had his way in a perfect world, there would be a school resource officer in every public school in Cumberland County.

If, mind you, this was a perfect world.

“They are the ambassadors for the school system,” Wright says. “They do so many roles. They are counselors, father-figures and mother-figures. They listen to kids who have problems at home. For instance, if a kid has been abused at home, an SRO knows what agency to call. A lot of times these young folks can confide in these SROs.”

If, he says, there was funding to pay for every SRO in every school. If, he says, there was plenty of manpower and womanpower in the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office. Wright says the CCSO is down 75 detention officers and 60 sworn deputies.

Ennis Wright sat in his Law Enforcement office with Cumberland County Schools students on his mind, as he considered how vulnerable schools can be and how an SRO can be the difference in the safety and welfare of a student on any given school day.

“An SRO is there for their safety,” Wright says.

He needs no reminders of May 24, 2022, when an 18-year-old gunman took the lives of 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. He needs no reminders of Valentine’s Day of 2018, when a gunman killed 17 students and wounded 17 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. He needs no reminders of Dec. 14, 2012, when 20 first-graders and six school employees lost their lives to a young gunman at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Our Cumberland County schools have been spared of such deadly shootings.

“I pray it doesn’t happen here,” Wright says. “We’ve just been praying nothing happens.”

Addressing the SRO shortage

The cost of SROs and a lack of deputies were just a part of the sheriff’s concerns as Wright finally found himself in March talking with Cumberland County Schools Superintendent Marvin Connelly Jr. and saying the Sheriff’s Office no longer could provide SROs for all 86 schools in the county that includes, according to Associate Superintendent Lindsay Whitley, nearly 50,000 students.

“I asked Dr. Connelly, ‘What do you think about the city taking their schools?’” Wright says. “Dr. Connelly said, ‘Yeah, they do it in Wake County.’”

The Raleigh Police Department does for Wake County Schools, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department for Mecklenburg County Schools and the Greensboro Police Department for Guilford County Schools, according to communications officers for the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office.

“I think Forsyth County does,” Wright says. “I don’t know if Wilmington does it or not.”

Wright drew criticism from Hope Mills Mayor Jessie Bellflowers and some Hope Mills commissioners, Hope Mills Police Chief Stephen Dollinger, at least one member of the Fayetteville City Council and Spring Lake Commissioner Raul Palacios after Wright sent a May 21 letter saying the Sheriff’s Office would no longer be providing SROs to all schools, effective July 1, to include Spring Lake.

There was criticism from Greg West of the county school board.

“To me, this feels like the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office is solving their recruiting issues on the backs of our children and at the expense of school safety,” West, a longtime school board member, told CityView’s Lexi Solomon. “I just kind of feel like they’re playing chess with the municipalities and we’re caught in the middle of it.” 

There was frustration from Fayetteville City Councilman Deno Hondros.

“I believe the sheriff let down the county, the community and the most vulnerable among us our children, [and] as an elected public servant he will be judged by the voters for that,” Hondros told CityView. “Is six weeks enough time to create, hire, train, come up with a plan, and then implement the plan? Time will ultimately tell.”

There was further tension when Wright denied elected officials, as well as media, attendance to a June 6 meeting with police chiefs.

“I was wanting a meeting to have all the heads come in to see if we could help ease into this,” Wright says. “I didn’t want politics in it. Once we got into the meeting and everybody came together, they said, ‘I understand.’”

C.J. Broadus III, chief deputy, nodded in agreement with the sheriff.

“When you put politics in something, everybody starts forming their opinion,” Broadus, 74, says. “It went from here to the media and radio before anybody knew what was going on.”

Social media chimed in, too.

Wright also disputes media portrayals that pulling SROs and school crossing guards was an “abrupt” decision without warning, although the public announcement did come with little time before the academic year that is scheduled to begin Aug. 26.

“This wasn’t an overnight decision,” Wright says. “The Sheriff’s Office command staff talked about it last year, and this year.”

‘It takes a village’

The Sheriff’s Office announced in a news release on June 6 that because of severe shortages of personnel and the current difficulties and recruitment among all law enforcement agencies, it could no longer fulfill its contract and still provide law enforcement protection for the citizens of the county, operations of the courts, maintenance and security of the detainees in the jail and monitoring more than 900 registered sex offenders, among other duties required of the Sheriff’ Office.

 “I will only sign agreements that I can fully honor,” Wright said in the release. “Sadly, due to an insufficient workforce, we are unable to provide school resource officers for all the schools in the city. Entering a contract would be irresponsible and reckless, knowing we cannot fulfill it.”

Wright was saying his June 6 letter to Fayetteville, Hope Mills and Spring Lake municipalities was candid and clear as he could explain, but the bottom line for his decision was a matter of manpower in his department.

“School Resource Officers play a crucial role in enhancing the safety and well-being of the schools and communities they serve,” he wrote. “I emphasize the importance of providing a School Resource Officer in all schools and that the safety of our students is everyone’s responsibility.”

But …

“It takes a village,” Wright wrote, “or, in this case, all the municipalities to work together.”

The Sheriff’s Office, Wright told me, no longer could alone protect our public schools like once it could.

“Like I say, the decision wasn’t overnight,” Wright says. “We were not fulfilling our contact [with the school system] because we didn’t have the workforce.”

The Sheriff’s Office, he says, is responsible for courthouse security, serving civil notifications in addition to providing 176 detention officers for the Cumberland County Detention Center, which Wright says has 75 vacancies.

“There’s also the responsibility of monitoring nearly 900 sex offenders,” he says. “And we still do funeral escorts and transport individuals to and from mental health facilities throughout the state. We were over here robbing Peter to pay Paul.”

Wright says hiring law enforcement officers since the May 25, 2020, murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis Police officer has been a struggle for law enforcement.

There were only so many school resources officers to assign. The Sheriff’s Office would need help from others in the SRO and crossing guards dilemma.

In this not-so-perfect world, Wright knew, it would take a village.

“We’ve been well aware of the ongoing challenges in recruiting a sufficient number of SROs as outlined in the annual Memorandum of Agreement between the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office and Cumberland County Schools,” says Connelly, the county schools superintendent. “Over the years, we’ve consistently explored various solutions with Sheriff Wright and our law enforcement partners. However, there was no official notification of a change until May 2024. When we received the official letter from Sheriff Wright and subsequently met with our local law enforcement partners, we made the decision to proceed as we are now.”

Not one village, but three

We learned this week from the school system that the Fayetteville Police Department will provide SROs for 47 schools in the city; SROs at three schools in Hope Mills, with a roving SRO at the town’s four elementary schools; and three schools in Spring Lake.

Loren Bymer, director of marketing and communications, said Friday the cost to the city is estimated at $4.9 million over a five-year period.

“Estimated because there will be some costs there were not calculated fully,” Bymer said, “like fuel, preventative maintenance, vehicle repairs, software licenses, body worn cameras, weapons, phones and service, indirect costs, memberships and due, etc.”

Cumberland County Schools is footing the bill for SROs and crossing guards in Hope Mills, Mayor Jessie Bellflowers says.

The school system welcomes the SRO resolve.

“The safety of our students and staff is our top priority,” Connelly said in a news release. “School Resource Officers play a crucial role in maintaining a secure learning environment, and we appreciate the collaborative effort of our law enforcement partners, elected officials, government staff and district staff in finalizing SRO coverage for the 2024-2025 school year. This unified approach allows us to provide an exceptional learning environment for our students and staff, and that’s what it’s all about at the end of the day.”

Deanna Jones, chairperson of the Cumberland County Board of Education, echoes the superintendent’s words.

“Our community’s commitment to school safety is evident in the dedication and hard work of all involved,” Jones says. “The presence of school resource officers and traffic control officers at our schools underscores our collective efforts to protect and support our students and staff. We are grateful for everyone’s unwavering commitment to providing a safe learning environment.”

Epilogue

Ennis Wright took his share of criticism early on for finally speaking up and speaking out about his call for attention to an imperfect world, where too often our public schools, as well as our private schools, are vulnerable from the time the school bell rings. Our college campuses, too.

Our schools are a place for teaching, a place for learning. Our public and private schools are not a place for intruders with evil on their minds or weapons of destruction in their hands. Our public and private schools are not a place for students or teachers or others of innocence to find themselves in harm’s way or die.

“We appreciate Sheriff Wright’s efforts and his team’s ongoing support, as well as the collaboration with municipalities and local police departments who are stepping in to help provide a safe learning environment for our ­­students and staff,” Connelly says. “This situation isn’t about pointing fingers; it’s about working together to address a complex issue and prioritize the safety and security of our schools.”

If Ennis Wright had his way in a perfect world, there would be a school resource officer in every public school in Cumberland County.

If, mind you, this was a perfect world.

***

Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.

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