EAST PEORIA, Ill. — The East Peoria Police force is about to increase by one, in the form of a school resource officer.
City council voted Tuesday night unanimously to employ the full-time officer to work 180 days per year for East Peoria Grade School District No. 86.
The officer will perform regular duties for the department when school is not in session.
Commissioner Seth Mingus explained the officer’s duties.
“They’ll work and deal with any legal issues that may happen at the school, whether there are fights or drugs or anything that could be happening in the school that would be illegal, that school resource officer would be the person who would respond and work with the kids and administration,” he said.
“They’re resources for kids when there’s abuse. They’re resources for kids when they’ve got issues they don’t really know what to do with, and they go to their teacher or administration and maybe that’s something they’re not trained to deal with but police are trained to deal with, so they can point them in the right direction.
“They truly are a resource for the administration, teachers, and kids.”
The officer’s armed presence will also be important because of the increased amount of school shootings in the country, too, Mingus added.
“They’re the first line of defense if, God forbid, there were an active shooter situation in the school. They would go and eliminate the threat.”
The officer will be based at the junior high school, Mingus said, but will be available to the entire district.
Adding the school resource officer raises the force’s total number from 48 to 49, taking into account command staff and patrolmen.
The officer’s contract begins Jan. 1, 2020 at a prorated salary of $82,000. That contract runs through the last of the 2021-2022 school year and provides a 1.75% salary increase per school year.
