For second year in a row, State Police won’t patrol school halls full-time

(Harrisburg) — State Police troopers won’t be patrolling some schools full-time this year, making it the second year in a row the agency’s sidelined its school resource program.

Through the program, troopers would walk the halls during school hours in eight school districts, including Lewisburg in Union County. The program was started in 2006.

But the agency says it now needs the troopers on the streets.

Spokesman Trooper Adam Reed says there’s budget pressure to consider, too.

“We still encourage our troopers while they’re on patrol to stop into the schools, to meet with the staff, the administrators and make themselves familiar with the layout of the buildings and the students and faculty there, so they can have better relationships with them,” says Trooper Reed.

Reed says troopers still will make hundreds of presentations in schools, dealing with drug and alcohol awareness.

He adds: “We conduct regular security checks at the schools, whether that means walking up and down the hallways or sitting monitoring the coming and going of buses. So we still have a very visible presence in our schools and continue to work very closely with the school administration.”

He also says the state police helped schools come up with a public safety plan in districts that lost the school resource program. He says the decision to end full-time patrols of schools has allowed the agency to better focus on its goals.

The Lewisburg school board recently approved a contract with a regional police department to put officers in three schools.