More than two dozen police officers stationed at Fairfax County middle schools are on the chopping block, part of a push to purge millions of dollars from the police department’s budget.
Law enforcement officials say it will come at the expense of gang prevention — which has extended to the area’s middle schools in recent years.
“It’s going to hurt our ability to combat gang activity,” Marshall Thielen, president of the county’s police union, said of the proposed 26 layoffs. “They’re going to see those crime statistics go the other way.”
Last year, violent crimes in the county dropped nearly 15 percent and property crimes about 5 percent, which officials partially attributed to the decline in gang activity.
An officer is stationed at 25 county middle schools, with another overseeing the group. Police officers at the county’s high schools would not be affected by the cut.
In defending the proposal, County Executive Anthony Griffin said his budget maintained “officers on the street” and added, “we did not have school resource officers 10 years ago.” Griffin also suggested slashing $4.75 million in overtime pay from the police department.
Police officials said school resource officers thwarted multiple gang recruitment efforts in recent months and prevented countless other crimes merely through their presence.
“I think it would have a negative effect,” said Fairfax County Police Lt. Ron Manzo. “They are the first line of defense, and if we took them out of the schools, we’d have to take officers off the street to handle [problems at schools].”
A study commissioned by the Montgomery County Council recently showed that Fairfax had lower serious crime rates, despite the demographic similarities of the two areas — county supervisors said it was partly because of the school resource officers.
Griffin’s plan to plug a $257 million budget shortfall must be approved by county supervisors, some who said they would look to restore the positions.
And Griffin’s proposal offered this caveat: “A lack of regular contact between police officers and students will diminish the police department’s ability to develop trusting relationships and solve juvenile crimes.”
