SILVER CREEK - Silver Creek is the only municipality in Chautauqua County to still have a School Resource Officer Program, but this may soon change.
The SRO program in which the Silver Creek Police Department supplies an officer to Silver Creek and Forestville schools was in the past funded through the villages, the town of Hanover and the schools.
According to Silver Creek Police Chief Timothy Roche, Silver Creek is the only school to maintain its SRO program in Chautauqua County, aside from BOCES.
Article Photos
Submitted photo
Pictured former School Resource Officer Robert Lazarczyk poses with DARE graduates. The SRO program may not continue due to lack of funds.
The program has been phased out in other districts due to budget cuts and the same may happen to the Silver Creek program.
At the recent Silver Creek Village Board meeting, the board discussed a meeting of all the concerned entities to see if it is worth renewing the SRO agreement which will expire Aug. 31.
Trustee Thomas Harmon questioned why Silver Creek should have the program if no other schools do.
He also pointed out that the previous SRO has left the department, so it will be an added cost to train a new officer.
Trustee Nick Piccolo added budgets are tight and the school has had deep cuts from the tax cap, so if the Seneca Nation decides not to support the program it is likely there will not be funds available for it to continue.
"The biggest thing is if the Nation does not want to come on board, the school has made it clear this is the last year they are even going to be able to consider funding this and we are not going to be able to fund it completely here in the village ... That's why we need to get everybody on board, all the entities that are involved and we have got to be able to make them believe this is a worthwhile cause and it's worth going forward with in order for it (to continue)," he said.
In other business:
The village authorized Lindstrom to sign a hold harmless agreement with Petri's Baking Products for the camera grid. Roche said after this agreement is signed the project can move forward.
The next village board meeting will be held Aug. 20.
