The Flathead County Sheriff’s Office is looking to hire two school resource officers to be stationed at Evergreen Junior High School and Bigfork High School before the next school year.
The new positions would be funded in part by a grant from Flathead Electric Cooperative, which has agreed to cover half the costs of the program for five years. Sheriff Brian Heino said he is currently working with the school districts to help cover the rest and is preparing to ask the Flathead County Commission to pitch in if needed. Heino estimates that each officer will cost about $80,000 annually, which includes salary, benefits, health insurance, training and more.
“We are really excited about this,” Heino said.
The Flathead Electric grant is funded by unclaimed capital credits. The non-profit always tries to track down members who have moved or stopped using the service to give them their dividend however state law allows those funds to be reinvested in an electrical cooperative’s service area after they have gone unclaimed for 5 years. Flathead Electric is also helping fund a school resource officer in Libby.
Kalispell, Whitefish and Columbia Falls all have school resource officers. Heino said the officers would be available to teach classes and make sure that students are staying on the right track. They are also the first to respond to any emergency at a school.
“School resource officers really help humanize law enforcement,” he said.
Bigfork previously had a school resource officer, but that position was eliminated due to lack of funding.
Heino said another advantage of having two additional school resource officers is that they would be available for regular duty during the summer, traditionally the busiest time of the year for law enforcement in the Flathead Valley.
The sheriff’s office also recently received a state grant from the Montana Department of Justice to fund a new Internet Crimes Against Children officer. Heino said he has selected a veteran deputy to fill the ICAC spot and is hiring a young officer to cover the departure from the regular force.
Heino said the sheriff’s office is looking to hire yet another officer later this year – specifically, the four-legged type. The sheriff’s office has not had a drug-sniffing dog since the early 2000s, but now a group of deputies is working with the Flathead Community Foundation to fund the purchase of a K-9 unit. Heino said it’s too early to say when the animal will arrive but that the sheriff’s office is looking at getting a Labrador. He said the animal would be particularly useful in helping the sheriff’s office handle the growing number of drug-related crimes in the valley.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated to reflect that the FEC grant is funded by unclaimed capital credits.