Eight Hunt County school districts are the first in Texas to partner with the state Department of Public Safety in a pilot program that puts officers on school grounds during classroom hours.
The schools provide day-to-day office space for Texas State Troopers. In exchange, the troopers are on campus to provide security for faculty, staff, and students.
We want our police officers, our law enforcement, to be in our schools as much as possible,” says Commerce Superintendent Charlie Alderman. “I truly believe that makes our schools safer.”
And the idea of having a police officer on campus might not end with the DPS.
“We’re also visiting with Commerce PD and [Texas A&M] University PD to do something similar with them,” he says. “So we might have the ability to have a police officer at every campus.”
Alderman says officers will have 24-7 access to the schools but will usually be on school grounds during classroom hours. The program does not cost school districts any money.
