Town Of Luther To Add School Resource Officer

A school resource officer has been officially approved by the Luther town board Tuesday.

Luther Public Schools has had a resource officer in the past, his salary paid for by a grant. But once it ran out, the district went without one until now.

After a 14-year-old student was stabbed by classmate on the first day of school, the discussion to bring back a resource officer increased.

Related Story: Police: Student Detained After Reportedly Stabbing Classmate At Luther HS

“I honestly wanted to pull my kids out of school, it took a lot to stick with it, to keep them in there,” Michelle Paramore said.

While adding a resource officer had been in the works Luther Police Chief David Randall says that incident kicked things into overdrive.

“It showed the need and unfortunately it took this to say maybe we should move quicker on it,” Chief Randall said.

He says the school district and city decided a police presence on campus was imperative.

“In this day and age, the way things are transpiring, I’d say it’s most definitely needed,” Randall said.

In order to make it financially feasible the city and school district both agreed to pay a portion of the officer's salary.

The school footing the bill for 10 months, with the city picking up the tab for the remaining two.

“The kids are our responsibility whether it is the school or the town, it is our responsibility to protect our kids,” Randall said.

Once everything is approved Randall hopes the officer’s presence won’t go unnoticed.

“We all know that if someone is determined to do something, they are going to do it regardless of who's around, but hopefully for the majority of people, if they see a uniformed officer there that would be a deterrent to have them think twice before they do anything,” Randall said.

Luther Schools Superintendent Barry Gunn says while a police officer has been designated, he'll have to undergo SRO training.