For City Council Meeting [September 28, 2021]
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
APPROVAL: Marcus Fuller, City Manager
FROM: Mark P. Kling, Chief of Police
Title
Request City Council to Approve a Memorandum of Understanding Between the Rialto Unified School District and the City of Rialto to Provide Uniformed Presence at Eisenhower High School and Carter High School Football Games During the Month of October 2021.
Body
BACKGROUND
The Rialto Police Department over the last several years provided School Resource Officer (SRO) to the Rialto Unified School District (RUSD). This agreement was suspended on August 1, 2020 by RUSD during the COVID-19 pandemic. RUSD has not reinstated the SRO position.
RUSD returned to in person learning for the 2021 school year. RUSD has had several incidents during school sanctioned events which required police department personnel to respond. Based on this need, RUSD has requested that the City furnish five (5) officers or corporals for uniformed presence at RUSD sanctioned High School football games, which will be funded through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with RUSD.
ANALYSIS/DISCUSSION
The calls for services to the police department from school related incidents, civil and criminal, at RUSD school events necessitates the need for uniformed presence at these sanctioned events. In the past the Police Department would have used the School Resource Officer (SRO) to serve as a liaison between the school district and the police department who would handle all calls related to these sanctioned events. This presence of the SRO was to alleviate the burden on daily patrol staff to respond to every incident occurring on school grounds. The agreement between the police department and RUSD recently ended and there is no longer a SRO assigned to RUSD who can respond and handle these incidents at RUSD sanctioned events.
Due to the increase in incidents, specifically the high school football games, RUSD has requ...
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