Natomas Crime & Safety Leadership Team Angelique Ashby • Paul Johnson • Keith Sharward • Rob Wurgler • Curtis Cook • John Parrinello • Molly Fling May 12, 2009
Natomas Unified School District
1901 Arena Blvd.
Sacramento, CA 95834
Re: The need for Student Resource Officers on the NUSD High School campuses.
Dr. Steven Farrar and Natomas Unified School Board Trustees;
Sacramento area news channels reported Thursday night that Natomas Unified School District
has decided, as a cost savings measure, to end the contract with Sacramento Police Department
to provide School Resource Officers (SROs) on the two high school campuses for the school
year 2009-2010.
The police department will need to use patrol officers allocated to the surrounding
neighborhoods to respond to incidents that occur on your campuses. In no way will they be
available during all school hours. In fact, calls made to the police dispatch will need to be
prioritized along with all other calls pending in the area at any given time. I am sure you are
aware that the City of Sacramento is also facing difficult budget times and will not have
additional resources to provide assistance in our communities to cover the impact that will result
as a loss of the SROs.
The SROs at Inderkum and Natomas High School are trained to engage the youth, get to know
them, identify potential safety risks and address those concerns before they escalate. Student
Resource Officers cannot be replaced by making calls to patrol and they cannot be sacrificed in
bad budget times. They are a vital part of keeping our high school campuses safe, protecting our
children, our teachers and our administrators through preventative and obvious daily interactions.
There are also the issues of violence on campus, gang activity and truancy – all of which the
SROs help to prevent. These things need to be addressed and we cannot accept a budget cutback
that puts staff and students in danger.
Local businesses such as Savemart Shopping Center on Truxel and San Juan, and Raley’s
Shopping Center on Truxel and Del Paso Rd. have seen increases in criminal activity during the
times that students travel to and from school. Having School Resource Officers assigned to each
campus is a proactive approach to stopping incidents before they occur and reducing criminal
activity on and around the high schools in Natomas. As we are sure you are aware, students of
these campuses have been involved in things like a robbery of the local dry cleaners next door to
Raley’s before school and shoplifting at Savemart after school. Without School Resource
Officers being engaged in preventing additional crimes like these, it is a certainty that we will
see an increase in criminal activity where the students are unsupervised.
It should also be noted that familiarity of SROs to the students they see everyday has been of
major significance in solving crimes in our community. Often an SRO can identify a student
based on a good physical description or via a school yearbook photo because they spend so much
time getting to know our students.
We are certain that you are aware of the obligation the school district has to see that students are
supervised from the moment they leave home in the morning to the time they return home in the
afternoon. It is imperative that the district uphold this legal obligation.
Budget times are difficult for everyone right now but safety of students, teachers and
administrators should be a top district priority. It is disheartening to see the school board vote to
let the SROs go without any mitigation. Why lose them both? Is it not worth discussing a
compromise?
As we have discussed in the past, this school district has a need to work at communicating with
the families you serve as well as your partners. In light of those promises to open communication
with Natomas residents and community partners did you speak with the City or the police
department to ask for assistance? Did you ask community members about SROs at the schools?
Eliminating both SROs is an extreme measure. What about keeping at least one SRO to go
between campuses until the other can be reinserted in the budget? Going without both SRO
positions all of next school year does not sound reasonable or safe for our students, teachers,
administrators or our communities.
Below are some national statistics on school violence as it relates to Student Resource Officers:
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78% of school-based police officers reported that they had taken a weapon from a
student on school property.
92% of school-based police officers believe that schools are a soft target for potential
terrorist attacks (and 74% believe the schools are unprepared for such an attack).
86% of school-based police officers indicated that the number of crimes committed
on school campuses nationwide are underreported to law enforcement.
National Association of School Resource Officers, NASRO 2004 School Based Law
Enforcement Survey – Final Report (February 2005).
Since 2001, nationwide surveys have indicated that school-based officers spend 50% of
their time preventing violence on school campuses.
Education World, “School Resource Officers Seeing Results”, www.educationworld.com
(October 2005)
“…we are not the answer to school violence; we are an important part of the solution.”
Id., quote from Executive Director, National Association of School Resource Officers
(NASRO), Curt Lavarello.
We ask that you reconsider this budget item and at least add one of the SROs for Natomas
Unified School District back into the 2009-2010 budget for next school year. Thank you in
advance for your consideration of this important crime and safety issue. We ask that you make
an ongoing commitment to work with this community to keep our campuses and neighborhoods
safe for the families who choose to call Natomas home.
Sincerely,
Angelique Ashby, JD
President, Creekside Neighborhood Association
Co Founder, Natomas Crime & Safety Leadership Team
Paul Johnson
Board Member, Regency Park Neighborhood Association
Co Founder, Natomas Crime & Safety Leadership Team
Keith Sharward
Board Member, Witter Ranch Community Alliance
Member, Natomas Crime & Safety Leadership Team
Curtis Cook
President, Villa San Juan Home Owners Association
Member, Natomas Crime & Safety Leadership Team
Rob Wurgler
Member, Natomas Park Master Association Traffic & Safety Committee
Member, Natomas Crime & Safety Leadership Team
Molly Fling
President, Natomas Community Association
Member, Natomas Crime & Safety Leadership Team
John Parrinello
Chair, Heritage Park Neighborhood Watch Committee
Coordinator, Natomas Police & Community Resource Center
Member, Natomas Crime & Safety Leadership Team