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1 <br /> ORANGE COUNTY <br /> BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br /> Meeting Date: November 6, 2002 <br /> Action Agenda <br /> Item No. <br /> SUBJECT: Acceptance of COPS in Schools Grant to Include Authorization of Two Deputy <br /> Sheriff (School Resource Officer) Positions for Cedar Ridge High School <br /> DEPARTMENT: Sheriff PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br /> Budget <br /> ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: <br /> Sheriff Lindy Pendergrass, ext. 2300 <br /> Estimated Cost Projections Donna Dean, ext. 2151 <br /> TELEPHONE NUMBERS: <br /> Hillsborough 732-8181 <br /> Chapel Hill 968-4501 <br /> Durham 688-7331 <br /> Mebane 336-227-2031 <br /> PURPOSE: To accept a three year grant from the US Department of Justice, Office of <br /> Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), and authorize two new permanent, full time <br /> Deputy Sheriff positions to be assigned as School Resource Officers (SRO) at Orange County <br /> Schools new Cedar Ridge High School. <br /> BACKGROUND: The U.S. Department of Justice (USDOJ), Office of Community Oriented <br /> Policing Services (COPS), provides funding for community oriented policing efforts including <br /> resource officers in schools. In the past, the Orange County Sheriff's Department has received <br /> several grant awards from the COPS programs that have allowed the department to increase <br /> law enforcement presence in our community and schools. <br /> Last spring, the Orange County Schools Board of Education prepared to open the new Cedar <br /> Ridge High School in fall 2002. The Board of Education recognized that, due to the State of <br /> North Carolina's fiscal crisis and the State's projected decrease in the number of students <br /> attending the District's schools, it would likely face constraints related to funding additional on- <br /> going costs of the new school. <br /> One of the top priorities for the Board of Education is to offer its students a safe learning <br /> environment. Faced with difficult funding decisions and a multitude of high priority needs, the <br /> Board of Education partnered with Orange County's Sheriff and applied for a grant from the <br /> USDOJ. The purpose of the grant is to offset some of the initial start up costs of providing two <br /> SRO's at the new school. In mid-September 2002, the Sheriffs Department received <br /> notification that USDOJ had awarded a three-year grant to Orange County to cover salaries and <br /> benefits associated with two additional full-time SRO's to be located at Cedar Ridge High <br /> School. <br />