Striving to Keep Schools Safe: San Mateo County Sheriff's Office

The following table lists actual expenditures from the Measure K sales tax extension (formerly Measure A) since the 2013-14 fiscal year:

Expenditures	Fiscal Year
$139,331	2013-14
$456,093	2014-15
$519,547	2015-16
$516,547	2016-17
$557,596	2017-18
Total: $2,189,556

The recommendation to invest local tax dollars in school safety stems from a proposal s approved by the Board of Supervisors on July 9, 2013:

To: Honorable Board of Supervisors

From: John L. Maltbie, County Manager

Subject: Measure A Report Back: School Safety

RECOMMENDATION:

Direct Staff to budget $473,219 in Measure A funds in the FY 2013-14 budget and $473,219 in the FY 2014-15 budget for two Deputy Sheriff’s to be assigned to the Community Policing Unit’s School Resource Officer Program for a total Measure A request of $946,438.

BACKGROUND:

As a result of the December 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School that claimed 27 lives; your Board, at the January 15 and February 12 Measure A workshop, brought up the issue of school safety within San Mateo County. Specifically, your Board was interested in the number of existing officers in schools as well as the associated costs and if those costs are being shared with the schools and / or cities.

Additionally, on April 29, the county held a School Safety forum called “Beyond Newtown: How to Ensure Safe Schools and Communities.” Organized by U.S. Representative Jackie Speier, the purpose of the forum was to bring together community stakeholders in order to discuss solutions on how to prevent and respond to violence in schools. As a result of the forum, three task forces were formed to address school safety planning, information sharing between stakeholders, and school related mental health services.

DISCUSSION:

Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) is a philosophy that promotes organizational strategies which support the systematic use of partnerships and problem- solving techniques to proactively address the immediate conditions that give rise to public safety issues such as crime, social disorder, and fear of crime. One of the techniques used in COPS is the development of a School Resource Officer program. The San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office has built a comprehensive Community Policing Unit (CPU) that currently consists of five Deputy Sheriffs and one Sergeant. The CPU manages the Community Alliance to Revitalize Our Neighborhoods (CARON) program, the Youth Diversion program, the Sheriff’s Activities League (SAL) program, and a School Resource Officer (SRO) Program.

The SRO Program assigns deputies to schools in an effort to create and maintain a safe learning environment. The School Resource Officers (SROs) work with the school administrators, parents, and other community based organizations to provided education to students and their parents on crime and illegal drug use prevention and safety. In addition, the SROs investigate crime and activities associated with criminal behavior, provide security and crowd control for school functions, and may conduct home visits. Currently, the SRO Program serves a total of 50 schools and over 19,000 students annually and includes 19 schools located in the unincorporated area and 31 schools in the cities of Half Moon Bay, Millbrae, Portola Valley, San Carlos, and Woodside (see attached).

Data suggests that engaging the community in COPS has reduced crime in those areas. Furthermore, experts agree that a SRO present on campus is in an ideal position to break the culture of silence that has existed in many of our schools. The SRO builds trust in the school by connecting with students through educational, recreational, and school safety programs; which can lead to increased crime reporting and prevention.

The addition of two Deputy Sheriff’s / SROs will assist in alleviating the excessive workload on the CPU / SRO Program and provide additional school safety preparation. The deputy will work with the CPU / SRO Program throughout the County, thereby reducing the ratio of schools to deputies from 10 to 1 to 7 to 1 and allowing each SRO to focus on the School Safety Plans for each school they are assigned to. This deputy will also be assigned to help with the SAL/CARON programs that target North Fair Oaks, East Menlo Park and the Coastside of San Mateo County. The Deputy will augment the work already done by the Deputies assigned to the Community Policing Unit. This Deputy will work at events like Safe Streets, movie nights, Citizen’s Academies, Neighborhood Watch meetings and other community events that occur in both the unincorporated areas as well as the contract cites. The Deputies will also conduct lunch time soccer programs, teach Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) as well as Gang Resistance and Education Training (GREAT) at the schools.

PERFORMANCE MEASURE(S):

Measure

FY 2012-13 Actual

FY 2013-14 Projected

Number of existing school safety plans that are in accordance with the County Office of Education standards

Average number of hours per week each School Resource Officer is on their assigned campuses

FISCAL IMPACT:

It is recommended that $473,219 in Measure A funds be appropriated for the FY 2013- 14 and FY 2014-15 budgets to fund two Deputy Sheriff’s / SROs for a total Measure A request of $946,438. Additionally, the Sheriff’s Office will be applying for a grant award through the United States Department of Justice, COPS Program. The total grant award is $125,000 over three years and will be used to partially offset the cost of the two Deputy Sheriff’s / SROs.

MEASURE A FUNDS RECOMMENDED IN THIS REPORT:

Proposal	FY 2013/14	FY 2014/15
School Safety	$473,219	$473,219

Attachment I

City / Unincorporated	Name of School
Half Moon Bay	Half Moon Bay High Hatch Elementary Cunha Intermediate Sea Crest Elementary (Private) Pilarcitos Alternative High
Millbrae	Mills High School Taylor Middle School Spring Valley Elementary Medows Elementary Green Hills Elementary St. Dunstans Elementary Lomita Park Elementary School Millbrae Montessori Calvary Luthern School
San Carlos	Arundel School Brittan Acres School Central Middle School Heather School San Carlos Charter Learning Center Tierra Linda Middle School White Oaks School Saint Charles School (Private) Arbor Bay School (Private) West Bay High School (Private)
Woodside / Portola Valley	Woodland School (Private) Woodside Elementary Woodside High Woodside Priory (Private) Kings Mountain Elementary Corte Madera Middle. Ormondale Elementary

Important note: This is a copy of the official report -- item 3A on the Board's agenda.