HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 084 INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 22-084
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council June 7, 2022
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*a SUBJECT: SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICERS
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The purpose of this Informal Report is to provide information on the staffing levels of the Fort Worth
Police Department's School Resource Unit (SRU) in the various school districts over the past ten years.
The significance of a fully trained and capable SRU and the importance of school safety were once again
brought to the forefront by the recent tragedy in Uvalde, Texas. Working in partnership with the various
Independent School Districts,we are dedicated to keeping students, staff and faculty safe.
School Resource Unit
The Fort Worth Police Department's SRU is currently staffed by one (1) lieutenant, five (5) sergeants, one
(1) detective, and 68 officers. Two of the 68 officers serve as rovers, or officers who may be plugged into
any school due to a regular officer being absent. At present, SRU contracts with six (6) independent school
districts (ISDs) to provide police security services. All the schools where School Resource Officers (SROs)
work are located within the Fort Worth city limits.
The various ISDs are charged at 50 percent (50%) for their portion of the 64 regular officers. However, the
ISDs share a prorated portion of the command staff cost, which includes the lieutenant, five sergeants, one
detective, and the two rover officers, at varying costs depending on the number of Fort Worth officers in
their contract. In addition, currently Eagle Mountain Saginaw ISD and Keller ISD each pays 100 percent
for the cost of a rover officer who stays within their respective ISD schools.
The City of Fort Worth contracts with the various ISDs to provide them with SROs for the purpose of
creating a safe educational environment in partnership with the ISDs. SROs serve as liaisons among the
department, the schools, and the community. They also serve as mentors to students by being positive role
models. SROs work with other officers, such as Neighborhood Police Officers (NPOs), to reduce crime
and criminal opportunities, and to address neighborhood and traffic concerns at or near the officer's school.
Additionally, SROs teach a variety of educational programs to students, such as gang deterrence and drug
avoidance. Furthermore, due to their knowledge of student culture, SROs are valuable resources to
investigators and to officers during field investigations.
School District Options
Recently, three ISDs have chosen to terminate their SRO contracts with the City of Fort Worth. Last year,
Crowley ISD chose to start their own ISD Police Department and Eagle Mountain Saginaw ISD did the
same for the fiscal year beginning in October 2022. Lake Worth ISD has decided to use Lake Worth PD in
the one LWISD middle school located in Fort Worth. Short of any major incident, Lake Worth PD has
agreed to provide all police services to that school and to file all cases.
Previously, FWPD served Northwest ISD in the early 2000's. NWISD created their own Police Department
in 2009. However, it was dissolved after five years of operation. NWISD chose to return to FWPD services
in the 2015-16 school year. Everman ISD collaborated with FWPD for the school(s) that had concurrent
jurisdiction with the City of Fort Worth. The last year that FWPD served Everman ISD was 2010-2011.
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS
INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 22-084
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council June 7, 2022
Page 2 of 2
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SUBJECT: SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICERS
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School Resource Ten-Year Numbers
Below are the raw numbers of the various ISD for the past ten years:
School District 11112 12113 13114 14115 15116 16117 17118 18119 19120 20121 21122
FWISD 40 40 40 43 43 43 43 44 44 44 44
CISD 4 4 4 1 4 5 1 5 5 5 5 115
EMSISD 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6
KISD 3 3 3 3 3 4 5 4 4
LWISD 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
NWISD 4 4 6 7 8 8 8
Lena Pope 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Total 50 1 51 1 54 1 57 1 62 1 62 1 64 1 67 1 70 69 64
Relief Officers 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
Sergeants 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
Detective 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
If you have any questions about this information, please contact Assistant Chief Joseph Sparrow at 817-
392-4231 or Joseph.Sparrowkfortworthtexas.gov.
David Cooke
City Manager
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS