NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. – A police officer will now be working as a full-time School Resource Officer at New Smyrna Beach Middle School after the police department saw an increase in calls last school year.
The police chief said they were called to the middle school over 100 times last school year and the reasons became more violent through the year.
“That was a little bit of a wake-up call for me as the chief to say, ‘You know what? We’re going to make some changes going into the new school year,’” Chief Eric Feldman said.
Data shows there were over 2,600 discipline referrals given to students last school year, with 149 of those involving assault and 66 fighting cases. Students were suspended for a total of almost 1,000 school days.
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“Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen an increase in violence at the middle school, specifically,” said Feldman.
The chief said that now, the officer will be there to respond to incidents, but the goal is to also deter crime before it can happen and talk to the students.
“The idea is not to be there to arrest kids. You can’t arrest yourself out of any problem related to juvenile crime. For us, it’s a chance to develop relationships with these kids in their formative years,” he said.
Also seeing the need, the Volusia Sheriff’s Office is helping New Smyrna get the officer for the school.
“We entered into an agreement with the sheriff’s department where they’re actually paying half the salary of the New Smyrna police officer during the school year,” Feldman said.
Some students’ parents find the extra security relieving.
“This middle school is very problematic. The kids are unruly. The teachers have no control over them and it’s not the teachers’ fault. It’s the parents’,” Jessica Brisell said.
The chief said the school guardian and the school resource officer will work together to create new safety plans to put in place, too.
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