Education
LISD creates police force
The approach
Building its own police department will give LISD the greatest control over how it hires and trains armed ocers, said Bryan Miller, executive director of student support. Stang more school resource ocers from local police departments—the method the district currently uses to have ocers at its high school campuses and Leander Middle School—was not an option as those agencies are short staed, he said. Representatives with Travis County Sheri’s Oce, Cedar Park Police Department and Leander Police Department conrmed they are experiencing ocer shortages. “Very quickly, [we realized] there was no way they could create that kind of capacity through our partnership, so we had to explore other avenues,” Superintendent Bruce Gearing said. The district will assign school marshals to ele- mentary campuses as they have less authority than commissioned peace ocers but still hold a license to carry, Miller said. Unlike police ocers, school marshals will be able to contribute to administrative work, such as emergency response protocols or monitoring recess, he said.
LISD parent Brad Ferguson said he is concerned about young students being disciplined by armed guards instead of educators. Neither ocers nor school marshals will be the rst to respond to school discipline concerns but may play a supportive role through talking with students or reminding them to follow campus rules, Miller said. The district’s disciplinary response will be guided by its code of conduct while police ocers will address criminal ramications, he said. Police ocers and school marshals will report to a chief of police while the chief will report to the superintendent in accordance with state law. Both school marshals and ocers will receive training on child development and interacting with students while marshals will partake in professional training and learning along with teachers, he said. The speed at which the department is developed largely depends on the district’s ability to hire and train applicants, Miller said. “You’ve got 1,200-plus districts competing for licensed police ocers to join departments and have the correct training, along with marshals,” Miller said.
Leander ISD ocials are in the initial stages of building a district police force after the board of trustees approved the department’s creation and rst round of funding Nov. 30. The district amended this scal year’s budget by $1.1 million to hire some sta and cover costs for training, insurance, and equipment. With a plan to hire 67 total ocers, the entire department is expected to take multiple years and millions of dollars to create, ocials said. With over 42,000 students across 48 campuses, LISD has struggled to comply with House Bill 3, a law passed in 2023 requiring an armed sta member or police ocer on every campus. District ocials said they anticipate funding and police stang challenges as a result of insucient state funding to implement the new rule.
Department breakdown
35 police ocers for middle and high schools
Ocer responsibilities
67 total ocers
32 school marshals for elementary and alternative schools
• Primary role to respond to an active threat School marshals • 80 hours of training and psychological exam • Arrests only to prevent imminent bodily harm • May complete administrative safety and security tasks, including developing response protocols, hosting trainings and conducting door audits
Police ocers • Primary role to address criminal activity • 1,400 hours or eight to nine months of training, including the School-Based Law Enforcement Oficer Proiciency Certiicate • Commissioned peace oficer with full arrest and investigation powers • Cannot be assigned to address administrative tasks or disciplinary issues
Around $4.8 million for recurring yearly salary costs Around $2.8 million for start-up equipment and training costs
SOURCE: LEANDER ISDCOMMUNITY IMPACT
SOURCES: LEANDER ISD, TEXAS COMMISSION ON LAW ENFORCEMENT COMMUNITY IMPACT
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