Second School Resource Officer Agreement Splits Barrington Council, Vote Postponed

The Barrington Town Council declined to vote on a police department agreement that would add a second school resource officer to the district, after two members said they needed more time to review the document and a third said she opposes the position outright, according to the council's published meeting recording from its Monday, July 27 session.

The item, a memorandum of understanding between the Barrington Police Department and Barrington Public Schools, would fund a second, 10-month school resource officer alongside the district's existing year-round SRO, plus a separate community engagement officer position. No council member made a motion to approve or reject the agreement, meaning it will come back before the council at a special meeting or at the council's September 14 meeting — after the school year has already begun.

Chief lays out the case for a second officer

Barrington Police Chief Correia spoke at length in favor of the addition, framing school resource officers as a prevention tool built on relationships rather than discipline. He cited a Secret Service National Threat Center review of 67 averted school threats, saying roughly a third involved a school resource officer whom someone in the school community had confided in. He also described a student who had been anonymously posting videos online — dubbed on social media the "Barrington Pisser" — coming forward to the school's resource officer to admit involvement, which the chief said showed the level of trust the position can build.

Chief Correia also referenced a mental health crisis call in which a subject was holding a knife; he said the situation was resolved only after the school resource officer, who had an existing relationship with the person in crisis, was brought to the scene. A police captain, Kevin Igoe, who said he was the acting chief during that incident, told the council he witnessed the same event and that the outcome could have been different without that relationship. Igoe, who said he has served with the department for 32 years, told the council he supports the second SRO position.

Chief Correia said the second position would allow the district's existing high school resource officer to focus more on building-wide security issues identified in an outside consultant's report, while the new officer splits time roughly evenly between the middle school and elementary schools. He said a separately funded community engagement officer, supported by a $225,000 federal COPS grant, would work largely in the schools building relationships with younger students ahead of middle school.

Superintendent's authority and funding questions

Councilors focused much of their questioning on a revision to the agreement that gives the superintendent final authority to remove a school resource officer, a change from prior versions of the MOU. Chief Correia said he was confident in his working relationship with the district's leadership and did not expect disagreements, but one councilor pressed him on what happens to that arrangement if either he or the superintendent leaves the job. The town solicitor noted the agreement is a memorandum of understanding, not a binding contract, and can be amended by both the school committee and the council at any time.

The funding structure also changed under the revised MOU: the school district would bear the full cost of the year-round SRO and reimburse the town, while the police department would cover salary and benefits for the new 10-month SRO, with the district reimbursing the town $25,000 — the same reimbursement level used in past years. The chief said the added community-engagement role would not create union complications, since it is not a union-protected position and an officer could be moved back into the patrol bureau if the assignment did not work out.

A councilor's opposition, a request for oversight

One councilor said she is not in favor of adding a second school resource officer, saying she would rather see the money spent on mental health professionals for students and voicing concern about the possibility, even if not the current reality in Barrington, of disparate treatment of students of color that advocacy groups have raised about school policing nationally. She said she supports the community engagement officer concept but not the additional SRO position.

Two other councilors said they support the broader effort to improve school safety but want more time to review the MOU's specific provisions governing how officers are to interact with students, witnesses and others involved in incidents. One asked that any approval include a formal, codified requirement for the police chief to report back to the council on the new position's first year before the agreement is renewed, rather than relying on informal updates. Chief Correia said he includes an SRO section in his monthly reports and offered to add whatever metrics the council wants tracked.

With no motion offered, the agreement remains tabled. The council indicated it would take the item up at a special meeting or at its September 14 meeting, after members review the document further.