Okay so cutbacks have been made throughout the entire school. The administration had to make decisions in virtually every department, one in which includes the security. Last year’s student resource officer, Officer Eric Andersen, was cut leaving Sergeant Fred Stamate as the only on sight officer for the entire school corporation.

“Him [Sergeant Stamate] and I were like an old married couple,” Officer Andersen said. “We knew how each other worked and what the other was thinking or had in mind. We gelled perfectly together. He was a really good boss and worked hard on security efforts.

With one main officer for the corporation, timing and scheduling had to be changed so security would not be spread too thin.

“I do miss my school resource officer,” Sergeant Stamate said. “It’s like going back to square one working alone. My time management has to be differently focused and I have to prioritize my calls to determine what is more important.”

The main functions of a resource officer are to tie the school and community together. He or she guides student, traffic, and criminal law while interacting with teachers in regards to any issues with the students. They attempt to change the negative perception of police officers.

“I think Sergeant Stamate can handle all this providing nothing large occurs. If he’s at Peifer investigating a situation who is at LC,” Officer Andersen said.

“I was always at the high school. The freshmen are missing out on knowing the police. It was very positive having me around because I was not the enforcer.”

The ratio of one police officer to almost 3,000 students in one school alone may pose as a problem in the long run.

“They need more security at this school,” freshmen Nathan Andersen said. “Officer Stamate is doing a good job, but they can stand to have at least one or two more officers.”

Situations are arising that have been unnoticed or unable to be attended due to the limited amount of security.

“Security seems better than other years, but certain things get by all the time,” senior Chris Bottger said.

To sum up the entirety of this situation it comes down to money and how it is distributed amongst departments.

“Money is always an issue,” Officer Andersen said. “There are a lot of ideas the school has, but they can’t fulfill the wish list because they don’t have the money and can’t change things like in security.”