CARLSBAD — The Carlsbad City Council approved an agreement between the city and the Carlsbad Unified School District to share the cost of school resource officers, extending their partnership over 20 years, city officials said Wednesday.
According to the agreement, the Carlsbad Police Department will provide three school resource officers for the school district for the 2023-24 school year for 10 months.
One school resource officer will be assigned to Carlsbad High School, one to Sage Creek High School and one to three middle schools and nine elementary schools within the district.
The annual cost for one officer is around $177,661, which includes salary and benefits but does not include equipment and training. The city said the district agreed to pay half the cost, totaling $222,075, which will be reimbursed to the city of Carlbad’s general fund.
The following is a list of the school resource officer’s cost allocation.
Annual personnel costs: Carlsbad High, $177,661; Sage Creek High, $177,661; middle schools, $177,661; Total: $532,983.
Monthly personnel costs: Carlsbad High, $14,805; Sage Creek High, $14,805; middle schools, $14,805; Total: $44,415.
School year cost (10 months): Carlsbad High, $148,051; Sage Creek High, $148,051 middle schools, $148,051; Total: $444,153.
Shared cost to the district: Carlsbad High, $74,025; Sage Creek High, $74,025; middle schools, $74,025; Total: $222,075.
The Carlsbad Police Department has five school resource officers, one each at Carlsbad High School and Sage Creek High School, one to cover middle schools and elementary schools and two to serve schools in Carlsbad that are not part of the Carlsbad Unified School District.
“Three other school districts have campuses in Carlsbad, including Encinitas Union School District, San Dieguito Union High School District and San Marcos Unified School District. These other districts have opted not to have dedicated school resource officers through a similar cost-sharing agreement,” city officials said.
Two out of the five school resource officers are “roving officers,” who will provide security and services at other campuses, including the Encinitas, San Marcos and San Dieguito school districts.
The duties of a school resource officer include the following:
- Responding to all law enforcement-related matters as they occur during regular school hours while the officer is on or near their assigned school campuses;
- Documenting all incidents of crimes at the school campuses and performing the necessary follow-up investigations as needed;
- Attending sporting events, school activities and parent conferences and meetings as needed;
- Conducting criminal investigations as assigned by the supervisor of the Family Services Unit and assisting other officers who are engaged in ongoing criminal investigations that bring them onto the school campus;
- Working with school staff in matters of mutual concerns occurring both on and off campus;
- Acting as a liaison for the School Attendance Review Board and being the point of contact for Child Protective Services visits, truancy sweeps, home visitations, district-wide critical response plan training, school safety plans and training of campus supervisors and lunchtime duty personnel.
In 2018, the City Council approved a second dedicated school resource officer for Sage Creek High School at the school district’s request. In 2019, a third school resource officer was approved to move between the three middle and nine elementary schools within the Carlsbad Unified School District.
“For over two decades, the police department has provided the Carlsbad Unified School District with at least one school resource officer every school year,” city officials said.
