Representing North Carolina’s Ninth District                                                                        

MYRICK ANNOUNCES $124,964 COPS Grant for
Stanley Police Department

(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Representative Sue Myrick (NC-9) today announced that the Stanley Police Department has received a $124,964 COPS (Community Oriented Policing Services) grant from the Justice Department.  The money will be used to hire a full-time School Resource Officer (SRO).  The grant was awarded through the COPS In Schools program, which funds the hiring of police officers who are assigned to a school as their community policing beat.

 The grant will provide the SRO’s salary and benefits over a period of three years. COPS also delivers training on school safety issues for each new SRO and an administrator from the school to which the officer is assigned. The training includes topics ranging from developing emergency response plans and conducting safety assessments of schools, to child development and cultural fluency.

 While the specific duties of an SRO are determined locally based on the needs of the community, an SROs presence on school grounds deters crime and violence, and provides an immediate response to occurrences that cannot be prevented. Many SROs also participate in classroom instruction on state and local laws, substance abuse, and driver education, or become involved in extracurricular activities that enable them to serve as a role model for students who might not otherwise have positive interactions with law enforcement.

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