Ellsworth police chief eyes cutting resource officer

ELLSWORTH – In a perfect world, Ellsworth Police Chief John Deleo could keep his department’s school resource officer, a full-time position responsible for monitoring and maintaining the safety of the city’s schools.

In reality, though, crime rates throughout the city are increasing steadily and the department could sorely use another full-time patrol officer.

Unfortunately, it’s unlikely the city will allow both and therein lies the choice facing the Ellsworth chief as he prepares his department’s operating budget for the new fiscal year.

“The first budget I submitted included money to hire a new officer and keep the school officer, but that didn’t make it through the [city] manager’s first round of cuts,” Deleo said Tuesday, hours before he was to officially present his budget to the Ellsworth City Council. “In light of that, I told them the higher priority would be to bring someone back on patrol.”

In today’s increasingly violent world, the prospect of taking an officer out of Ellsworth’s schools seems scary, but Deleo said he’s not concerned about safety.

“I think they’d be OK,” Deleo said. “If they have a complaint, we go up and handle it. The idea of having someone in the school doesn’t necessarily guarantee school safety.”

Ellsworth Superintendent Frank Hackett said he hasn’t officially discussed the idea of losing the school officer, but he agreed with Deleo.

“We’ve always had a very good relationship with the police department,” Hackett said. “Obviously, it’s nice to have a uniformed officer in the school, but we’re not concerned about safety [if the position is eliminated].”

Ultimately, it will be the City Council’s decision when it adopts next year’s budget sometime in late June, but Chairman Gary Fortier said everything is on the table.

“If the chief feels that the priority is to have another person on the street, we need to listen to him,” Fortier said. “But we also need to look at this from the education side and see how the schools benefit.”

Gil Jameson has been Ellsworth’s resource officer for the past six years. In addition to the appearance of safety provided by having a uniformed officer at the school, Jameson oversees the D.A.R.E. program, teaches law enforcement classes and conducts criminal investigations.

Deleo said the school resource officer is a nice luxury, but his department might be better served having someone on the street.

The Ellsworth Police Department saw an 8 percent increase last year in the number of calls its officers handled, and the chief said it’s only going to increase.

Adding another patrol officer also will allow Deleo to promote an officer to sergeant, he said. Barton Tokas currently is the only sergeant and when he’s not working, the department does not have a designated leader.

Still, there is a possibility that Ellsworth could keep its school officer. Fortier said there is a chance that position could be funded through the school department budget, but he added that poses potential liability risks.

“Everything is a possibility, but under that scenario, who would [the officer] report to?” Fortier asked.

Hackett, who is in the process of preparing next year’s school budget, said funding the school officer position out of the education budget hasn’t been discussed.

“As it stands right now, we’re at a 4.2 percent increase, and that doesn’t really add anything,” he said.

Ellsworth first added the school resource officer position in 1999, not long after the shootings at Columbine High School near Littleton, Colo.

The position was funded for three years under a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice. Since 2002, the position has been funded through the police department’s budget.