GREENFIELD, Ind. — Greenfield Central Community School Corporation is looking to start its own police department.
Over the years, it has become increasingly difficult to have a consistent number of school resource officers at Greenfield Central schools. That is where the idea to create the district’s very own in-house police department came into play.
“The biggest problem that we were both running into is being able to staff those positions all the time,” said Greenfield Police Department Deputy Chief Chuck McMichael.
Greenfield Central has a mix of full-time school resource officers and part-time officers who work on their off days. While school resource officers are employed by the district, they work under local departments like Greenfield PD.
The district lost one of its full-time officers at the start of the year and has not been able to find a replacement.
“Numbers for candidates has decreased over the years,” McMichael said. “And we’re feeling those effects the same as everybody else. So, being able to put more officers into our schools has been, honestly, next to impossible.”
McMichael said his agency has not been able to get another full-time school resource officer because the department is already short patrol officers.
“When we are short on the road, it makes it more difficult to be able to even have a conversation about putting more officers in schools,” McMichael said.
Because they’re both short-staffed, GPD and the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office suggested the district start its own department. If Greenfield Central launches its own independent department, it could hire six full-time officers that aren’t affiliated with any other agencies.
“By creating our own police department, we’re going to have more consistency among the staff who are in our buildings,” said Greenfield Central Superintendent Dr. Harold Olin. “That’s what we’re looking to achieve, just to strengthen those relationships in each of our buildings.”
Olin said the school board approved the idea earlier this week. Now, the district will begin searching for a police chief and then begin to interview officers. Olin also said many people with law enforcement backgrounds have already started reaching out.
“I think there is something appealing to many law enforcement officers about being in a school setting,” Olin said.
The district hopes to select a chief by the middle of January. Then, the state will have to approve the department’s formation.
Right now, no timeline is set in stone for the department’s formation. The district, however, hopes to have the department up and running by the start of next school year.
