BENTONVILLE -- A school resource officer will be added for the three junior high schools in Bentonville Public Schools starting next school year.
The City Council approved 6-0 the position at its meeting Tuesday. Council member Aubrey Patterson was absent. There was no discussion before the vote.
Council action
Bentonville City Council met Tuesday and approved:
• Reappointing Kimberly Seay and appointing of Melissa Godoy to the Library Advisory Board.
• Spending $22,640 for canopies to cover bleachers at nine baseball and softball fields at Memorial Park.
• Spending $196,510 for a Riggs Cat excavator.
• Spending $48,146 for protective left turn signals at the intersection of South Walton Boulevard and Southeast 28th Street.
• A $12,000 budget adjustment for SAG-10 software for the Electric Department.
Source: Staff report
This will be the School District's fifth school resource officer provided by the Police Department, according to a memo Police Chief Jon Simpson wrote to the council.
There are two officers at Bentonville High School, one at Fulbright Junior High School and one that splits time between Washington Junior High School and Lincoln Junior High School.
Centerton's Police Department also partners with the district to have an officer at West High School.
Bentonville's Police Department and the School District have an agreement where the district reimburses the city for the positions as well as their vehicle insurance and costs, according to Simpson's memo.
The new officer will use a car the city already has, he said.
The School Board approved the position at its March 12 meeting.
District administration brought the recommendation of an additional officer to the board as part of the district's ongoing security procedures and staffing, Dena Ross, chief operating officer, said during the board's March 5 meeting.
"This is just an organic recommendation based on the growth of numbers in our district," she said.
The officer will start next school year and cost about $60,680, according to Ross.
"We'll put our best over there," Mayor Bob McCaslin said Tuesday afternoon.
The council also recognized officer J.R. Cooper's retirement. Cooper has more than 20 years of law enforcement service, including the more than five with the Bentonville department.
Cooper began his law enforcement career in 1991 with the Benton County Sheriff's Office. He joined the Little Flock Police Department in 1995 where he served as one of the first officers with a police dog in Benton County.
He served as a patrol officer for several area agencies from 1999 to 2002 then went into the private security industry before joining the Bentonville department in 2013.
Cooper's dog, Nico, also retired, and council authorized his ownership to be transferred from the department to Cooper.
The council and those in attendance gave Cooper a standing ovation for his service.
NW News on 03/28/2018
