The Christian County Public School System will soon have their own law enforcement force, following action from the Christian County School Board at their November 21 meeting and Superintendent Chris Bentzel discussed that move with WHOP News recently.
Firstly, Bentzel says he wants to express his eternal gratitude to the fine men and women who have worked with them through the Hopkinsville Police Department and the Christian County Sheriff’s Department, saying there are a tremendous community partner.
However, he says the costs to maintain those School Resource Officers has steadily increased over the years, and when they crunched the numbers, fielding their own force just made fiscal sense.
They also feel that this move will allow for more flexibility and consistency with their officers, which is something that could fluctuate previously.
They plan to eventually have 14 SRO’s through their law enforcement agency, and with their own agency, they’ll be eligible to apply for grants that they couldn’t before, to help with funding the endeavor.