SPS starts independent police force

John Mulford: District's chief did plenty of advance legwork to make a smooth transition.

March 1 was the first day of operation for the Springfield Public Schools Police Department.

Chief Jim Farrell said it was a day pretty much like any other.

“Honestly, nothing is changing except who we get our peace officer authority from,” he said.

Previously, the district’s officers were commissioned by the Greene County Sheriff’s Office. Farrell said turning over commissioning responsibility to the school board was an idea Sheriff Jim Arnott has talked about for years, but six or seven weeks ago, he wrote a letter stipulating a May 1 deadline to make the change.

“I think he just felt like it was time,” Farrell said.

Through a spokesperson, Arnott declined to be interviewed about the change he mandated and deferred questions to Farrell.

SPS, Missouri’s largest school district, is only the fourth of the state’s 567 districts to establish an independent police force. The others are Willard, with 4,600 students; Blue Springs, with 14,800; and Dunkin, with 1,500.

The department’s budget – $2.2 million in 2021-22 – is unaffected by the change, and the sheriff’s office never received payment from the district, according to an SPS spokesperson.

Farrell said many people have jumped to the conclusion that the SPS Police Department is a new entity.

“We always had our own employees at SPS in the role of officer,” he said.

According to Farrell, the sheriff never managed the school police.

“Kudos to him, he didn’t involve himself in our day-to-day operations,” Farrell said. “He had faith and confidence and trust in us doing everything we were supposed to do to do the right thing.”

But Farrell said it was a problematic arrangement for the Sheriff’s Office, since school officers were commissioned by him but employed, trained and managed by the school district.

“At some point, he’s got to say, ‘Hey, how much longer do I keep putting myself and my department and Greene County on the line when I have no control over these employees?’” Farrell said.

John Mulford, deputy superintendent of operations for SPS, understood Arnott’s decision.

“We understand the kind of situation he was in, commissioning entities that didn’t really work for him,” he said. “He was trying to get those off his plate.”

Farrell’s force has 25 officers with one vacancy.

“We weren’t able to fill one position this year simply because we didn’t have the qualified applicants,” Farrell said. “Everybody’s struggling to hire.”

Not every school has its own officer, according to Mulford. All high schools do, and most elementary schools share officers.

The officers are tasked with keeping people in the district safe, according to Farrell.

“On any given day in Springfield Public Schools we have between 28,000 and 30,000 people students and staff, and that is the third largest population group in Greene County,” Farrell said.

Smooth transition
Mulford said Farrell was ready for the transition to an independent police force.

“Jim Farrell has been doing the legwork to determine what it would take,” he said. “Once the decision was made to proceed, we were able to make things happen pretty quickly.”

Mulford said it was nice to be able to meet the sheriff’s preferred timeline.

“I was extremely relieved to learn that our people had done what they needed to do to be prepared for this,” he said.

Mulford said there would be no changes in operations or the budget.

“The police force was already our employees,” he said. “We already did all the hiring, training, all those types of things. We don’t expect any fiscal change or any operational change, for that matter. It will be business as usual.”

He added that there is a potential for a slight bump to the district’s liability insurance.

“If that happens, and that’s an if, we expect it to be minimal,” he said.

The school board – a body that is elected, like the sheriff – is able to commission police officers, and Farrell said his force has an originating agency identifier to the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System through the Missouri Highway Patrol. This allows law enforcement agencies to access privileged information, such as running a license plate or checking for warrants.

Additionally, the district has memoranda of understanding with overlapping law enforcement agencies: the Springfield Police Department, the Battlefield Police Department and the Greene County Sheriff’s Office. These agencies provide mutual aid in emergencies.

As an independent police force, the SPSPD stands on firmer footing in case of such an event.

“If a critical incident had happened, it certainly could have made things very convoluted,” said Farrell. “We’ve been blessed. I think we would have seen some real confusion.”

Safety focus
Farrell said his officers are specialized, in the way that other special forces, like SWAT team members and narcotics officers, are as well.

“They are all police officers, but they have very specific, focused missions. Our specific, focused mission is keeping students and staff safe,” he said.

The department will continue to lead intruder training for all school sites.

School officers responded to 4,725 calls in the 2018-19 school year. In 2020-21, when COVID-19 interrupted in-person schooling, there were only 2,573 calls.

Farrell clarified that his officers do not have a function in student discipline.

“Even at the national level for school resource officers, it’s discouraged that school police or school resource officers be involved in school discipline. We’ll handle crime,” he said. “This district has a standard that we’re not involved in school discipline, and I love that.”

Superintendent Grenita Lathan was present with school board President Alina Lehnert for a Feb. 28 swearing-in ceremony before the department’s launch on March 1. It was a ceremonial event – not required for the change in commission, but recognizing the importance of the district officers’ work.

“We are extremely proud of the work that our school police officers do to ensure the safety of SPS students and staff,” Lathan said. “As the largest school district in Missouri, this step streamlines processes and creates efficiencies that support the ongoing commitment to providing exceptional service.”