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VCSO Partners With Frazer School To Provide Safety And Security

For a month and a half, Valley County Sheriff’s Office has been providing a presence and assistance in Frazer Schools in order to help students, staff and the community. The memorandum of understanding with Frazer schools started on Nov. 1, after Valley County Sheriff Tom Boyer approached the Valley County Commissioners to establish this relationship.

Sheriff Boyer explained he was first approached by the Superintendent of Frazer Schools Melanie Blunt-Cole to see how the Valley County Sheriff’s Office could help. “Over the last four years we have been having conversations and about two and a half months ago, they were looking for a school resource officer (SRO) with law enforcement experience. If they are wanting to pay someone for this position, why not pay us, that was the line of thinking,” stated Boyer to the Commissioners.

The support by the Valley County Sheriff’s Office provided to Frazer would be at maximum 600 hours with an approximate $15,000 generated for the county .

The agreement would require to have an officer present in the morning, the end of school as well as any other school focused event such as sporting events and dances. “This relationship would be school and child focused. We would have an officer there and present during all school-related events,” said Sheriff Boyer.

After explaining to the Commissioners how everything would look with this agreement, Commissioner Mary Armstrong thought it was certainly an option as long as Sheriff Boyer felt he had the staff to support this additional coverage. Sheriff Boyer explained his department does feel thinned out as it is currently however getting exposure to this area of the Valley County is the most important stating, “No other districts have SROs, and Frazer is at their wits end. They need help. They are so far removed from tribal entities and they are reaching out to us for help.”

Five Valley County sheriffs are cross deputized, which results in not needing to involve tribal officers in the event a situation does occur. These cross deputized deputies can work with tribal prosecutors and are able to issue citations as necessary. There have also been ongoing discussions regarding the ability to do Zoom or other telecommunications so they don’t have to travel to appear in court.

“We have a great relationship with Tribal, because they are also stretched so thin. It’s very functional and a good working relationship,” explained Sheriff Boyer.

The Commissioners agreed to the relationship in working with Frazer Schools with Commissioner Paul Tweten making the motion, Armstrong seconding, and all in favor.

The agreement went into effect on Nov. 1, and since then Valley County deputies have worked at the school almost daily during the day to provide security in the school and an overall presence in the community as children arrive to school and depart for the day. Sporting events are also attended by law enforcement.

In addition to having a presence, the deputies have also addressed situations between students with Sheriff Boyer stating, “We have addressed bullying between students involving inappropriate social media posts and truancy issues.”

The Valley County Sheriff’s Office enjoys working with the students and staff of Frazer school and they look forward to working proactively in the classroom with the children with the goal of developing a lasting relationship with the students and staff.

 

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