'Insufficient workforce' behind Cumberland sheriff removing officers from dozens of schools

Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office can no longer provide school resource officers and crossing guards to schools in city limits because of other law enforcement obligations, staffing shortages and law enforcement recruitment difficulties, a news release said Thursday.

Police chiefs in Fayetteville, Spring Lake and Hope Mills received a May 21 letter from Sheriff Ennis Wright stating that the Sheriff’s Office would no longer assign school resource officers and crossing guards at schools in city limits.

In a closed-door meeting Thursday, Wright met with representatives of Cumberland County Schools and chiefs and assistant chiefs from local enforcement agencies to discuss the school resource officer program.

"I will only sign agreements that I can fully honor," Wright said in the release. "Sadly, due to an insufficient workforce, we are unable to provide school resource officers for all the schools in the city. Entering a contract would be irresponsible and reckless, knowing we cannot fulfill it."

Reason for changes

The Cumberland County Sheriff's Office has provided school resource officers to the school district since 1998, according to the release.

"Recently, however, severe shortages in law enforcement personnel have made it impossible for the Sheriff’s Office to continue to provide an adequate number of (school resource officers) under its existing contract with the Cumberland County School system," the release stated.

The contract ends June 30.

What's next?

The release states that the Sheriff's Office will continue to provide officers for summer school and year-round school until the 2024-2025 school year starts in the fall.

Municipalities with police departments will then provide "the needed personnel and to provide a proper level of protection for students, faculty, administrators and the public" at the start of the new school year.

The Sheriff's Office will renew its contract to provide resource officers for schools in unincorporated areas of Cumberland County without police departments, except the town of Stedman, the release stated.

Wright said his office will work with the other agencies to provide training and develop contracts.

Fayetteville previously provided school resource officers

According to Fayetteville Observer archives, local municipalities used to provide school resource officers for Cumberland County schools.

A February 1998 article reported that then-Fayetteville Police Chief Ron Hansen recommended not reviewing the department’s contract with the school district to “better use” officers for street patrol and fighting crime in the community.

“I think teachers should teach, security people should do security and police should police,'' Hansen said Feb. 4, 1998.

Hansen suggested that the school system look at creating its own security force. ``I certainly support the security aspect of the program,'' he said.

At the time, the city shared about $500,000 of the cost with the school system for resource officers with patrol cars to be at the high schools and middle schools in city limits, while two sergeants supervised them.

Then-Cumberland County Sheriff Moose Butler offered to take over the program for schools inside the city, pending budget approval from county commissioners, the article stated.

By July 1998, the Cumberland County Sheriff's Department was approved for a $1.2 million U.S. Justice Department grant to pay for school resource officers for the following three years.

Wright said he wanted to continue providing school resource officers, but that because of personnel shortages and recruitment difficulties at all law enforcement agencies, the Sheriff's Office could no longer fulfill its contract with the school district and provide law enforcement protection for county residents, along with responsibilities for courts and jail operations and monitoring more than 900 registered sex offenders, Thursday's news release said.

Elected officials recently expressed concerns about the timing of the sheriff’s announcement, which came at the end of the current school year and amid Cumberland County and municipalities finalizing budgets for the next fiscal year.

What others say

Representing the school district at Thursday's meeting were Superintendent Marvin Connelly Jr. and Board of Education Chairwoman Deanna Jones.

"We will continue to collaborate closely with the Sheriff’s office and local police departments to provide a safe environment for all," the school system said in a statement Thursday. "All agencies remain dedicated to this shared goal."

Assistant Chiefs Todd Joyce and Robert Ramirez represented Fayetteville, while Chief Kemberle Braden attended a law enforcement graduation ceremony, the sheriff's release said. Chief Errol Jarman represented Spring Lake.

Fayetteville Mayor Mitch Colvin confirmed that elected officials were not part of the meeting.

Colvin said he expects there will be further discussion with the Fayetteville City Council.

"I think the sheriff has made it clear he does not have the personnel or resources to operate the program," Colvin said. "We'll meet with the manager and police chief to talk strategies to make sure kids in city limits are protected."

The mayor said he expects the city will also be asking Cumberland County Commissioners to provide additional funding, since funding for the program was put back into the county's general fund to offset the cuts, after Wright's letter in May.

What's currently provided

The Sheriff's Office website states it currently provides school resource officers at 90 Cumberland County schools.

A presentation to the Cumberland County Board of Education Auxiliary Services Committee on May 30 stated that the Sheriff's Office manages 34 school resource officers and 98 crossing guards in the district.

Starting July 1, the sheriff’s office will no longer provide officers at nine high schools, 10 middle schools and 30 elementary schools in Fayetteville; four elementary schools two middle schools and one high school in Hope Mills; and two elementary schools and a middle school in Spring Lake, according to Wright’s letter.

The Sheriff's Office will only manage crossing guards and school resource officers for four high schools, seven middle schools and one elementary school, Kevin Coleman, associate superintendent of auxiliary services, said at the May 30 Auxiliary Services Committee meeting.

The sheriff said he acknowledges that school resource officers "play a crucial role in enhancing the safety and well-being of the schools and communities they serve."

"The safety of our students is everyone's responsibility," he said. "It takes a village — or, in this case, all the municipalities to work together.”

The sheriff said he is confident that all the law enforcement agencies and school board can work together for the transition, but "will need elected officials to provide the necessary funding to complete the task."

Leaders in Cumberland County express anger over proposal to remove deputies from schools

What Cumberland County officials say

According to a news release from Cumberland County on Monday, commissioners discussed school resource officer and crossing guard funding at their meeting Monday.

Commissioners’ Chairman Glenn Adams said commissioners did not have advance notice of Wright’s decision to no longer provide school resource officers and crossing guards in city limits, the news release stated.

While the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office falls under the budgetary authority of the county, the county “does not have the authority to tell the sheriff how and where to deploy officers or how to operate the Cumberland County Detention Center,” Adams said

Commissioners directed the county manager at its May 30 work session to remove school resource officer and crossing guard funding from the sheriff’s office.

Adams, who was at an Arts Council engagement Thursday evening, said he'd not had a chance to talk to Wright following Wright's meeting Thursday.

The money that was removed from the county's budget May 30 for the school resources officers, Adams said, was set aside, pending any updated decisions from Cumberland County Schools.

"Eventually, the school board will make a decision for whoever they want to contract with, whether the school system decides to go with a municipality, sheriff, or even go private," he said. "We can put that money back in, based on what they decide. Everybody (the sheriff and school) board comes to us with their budget requests, but we don't tell them what to do."

Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3538.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Cumberland County sheriff removing officers from some schools