Roodhouse approves putting Resource Officer into NG schools

By Editor | July 31, 2025 |

By Carmen Ensinger

For several months, there have been talks between the Roodhouse Police Department and the North Greene School District about placing a School Resource Officer into the schools.
The North Greene School Board, approved the agreement at their Wednesday, July 23 meeting and the Roodhouse council approved the agreement at their Thursday, July 24 special meeting.
Roodhouse Police Chief Kyle Robison discussed the proposal with the council prior to the intergovernmental agreement being passed by the council.
“We have our most valuable resources in these (school) buildings – our children,” Robison said. “In my professional opinion, the schools are our most vulnerable area and I want to see the presence of the police there. I want to put an officer in those buildings to increase the safety side of things.”
There will only be one resource officer and he will split his time between the high school in White Hall and the elementary school in Roodhouse.
“I want to have a person in position there to be able to respond to incidents we hope will never happen,” Robison said. “I want our guy to know the buildings and be ready for anything that may come their way.”
Robison said that he had discussions with the teachers to get an idea what they thought about having the presence of an officer on the school grounds.
“The teachers don’t feel comfortable with the things they encounter at the school,” he said. “I am personally at the school three to four times a week at incidents that require me to be there as a safety presence. Parents come in irate and take it out on the staff. We need to be in a position where we can not only provide a safe environment for the teachers but also for the students.”
Talks between the district and police department started back in March and they were finally able to come up with a proposal.
“It all boils down to money,” Robison said. “The school district has certain funds from which our department can be reimbursed. Under the two-year proposal, they would reimburse us $53,000 in the first year and $55,000 the second year.”
Keep in mind that the officer will only be providing services for 9 months of the year.
“We discussed it and when it comes down to it, with the insurance and benefits, our officers cost us around $70,000 a year,” Robison said. “When school is out for the summer, that officer will go back to normal duties of the department. There are lots of things he can do, including reducing overtime.”
Robison said he would hire another officer for the department to take the place of the officer becoming the School Resource Officer.
“I want to see this officer in kind of a mentorship role in the schools,” he said. “The school will handle the discipline. I want to see this officer talking to kids to be a positive mentor. I don’t want an officer as a show of authority. I want them to be in tune with the student body and faculty and be a liaison between the police, the public and the teachers.”
The officer would also attend extra-curricular events, such as ball games where a large crowd is expected.
The choosing of the officer to be the resource officer will be left up to the school and White Hall Police Chief Luke Coultas with Robison saying he will not take part in choosing this officer.
“The school is the one who is spending the money, so they need to host the process,” Robison said. “The two building principals, superintendent and White Hall Chief Coultas will be doing the interviews. They will then make that determination to me and I will go based on their recommendation.”
As far as investigating incidents which may occur at the school, Robison said that isn’t what the officer will be there for.
“I don’t want that officer physically investigating an incident,” he said. “We are not there to be a disciplinarian we are there to foster a safe work environment. I want us to be as minimally invasive as possible.”
The vote was unanimous to provide an officer to the school.