RICHMOND—When classes begin this fall, the Madison County School District will have its own independent police force, made up of 19 full-time school resource officers assigned to schools across the county. To date, 16 have been hired. 

The school where the officer is placed will be their only beat, although they might be reassigned as needed, such as if another officer falls sick. All officers will report to Chief of Police Ben Wilcox, who in turn, reports to the Madison County School Board. 

“We’re a full police department, we have arrest powers, and our main goal is to build relationships with our students while protecting them,” Wilcox said. “If there’s any threat, we’re going to be protecting from inside or outside the schools. But the biggest portion is being able to work with our community and build relationships with our students.” 

SROs were previously provided through the Berea Police Department, Madison County Sheriff’s Office, and the Richmond Police Department, according to Wilcox. Some SROs assigned to various schools through previous contracts with local law enforcement have stayed on to become part of the new District police department.

The School Safety and Resiliency Act passed in 2019 by the Kentucky General Assembly mandates that every school campus have at least one SRO assigned to it. An SRO is, by statute, “a sworn law enforcement officer who has specialized training to work with youth at a school site.” These officers are required to go through 120 hours of training through the state's Department of Criminal Justice.

“We’ve had tragedies in Kentucky," Wilcox said. “Passing the School Safety and Resiliency Act was due to the Marshall County shooting. And with the passing of that, we’re probably one of the leading states when it comes to school safety in the country.” 

In 2022, Senate Bill 120 gave school districts across the Commonwealth the authority to establish a police department. According to Wilcox, 46 out of 171 school districts in Kentucky manage their own police department. 

The Kentucky Center for School Safety reports that approximately two-thirds of SROs are employed by a school-based law enforcement agency. The rest are employed through contracts with local law enforcement agencies. There are currently 937 SROs in Kentucky school districts.  

“I think that the school is actually falling in line with a lot of other districts and starting their own department,” Wilcox said. “Our county had three different police departments serving our schools where we can now make one. We had a phenomenal relationship and still have a phenomenal relationship with Berea PD, Madison County Sheriff’s Office, and Richmond Police Department. But this just adds more officers into our schools and gives it more of a central hub of officers.” 

During the March 10 Madison County Schools Board meeting, Superintendent Randy Neeley said that there were enough funds in the budget to establish the Madison County School District Police without having to raise taxes. 

Neeley also said they discussed establishing an independent school district police force for the last four to five years. However, according to Madison County Chief Deputy Sheriff Tony Terry, the School District's decision was not made in consultation with all affected law officers.

“We had no input,” Terry told The Edge. “We didn’t know, they just came and told us what they were going to do.”

School District 4 Board Member Lori Cobb emphasized during the school board meeting that they had great partnerships with local enforcement agencies which will continue as needed, but the decision was “99% an economic decision.”  

“We really got down to the meat and potatoes on the money, on what it would cost, how it would benefit compared to what we currently have in our schools,” Neeley said in the March BOE meeting. “We met [in] early December, and I gave you all some initial numbers, what it would look like, how it affects, who it will affect, and looking at all of those things we do that think that this would benefit all of our schools, our community, students, everybody involved in the Madison County School system to have our own police force.”

District 1 Board Member Samantha Burford also said that they have had conversations with other county school districts with in-house law enforcement, including Montgomery, Laurel, Clark, and Pulaski counties.

“We have wore them out asking them questions, actually bringing their people in, discussing, having long conversations with what works, what doesn’t work, how would they do it over what they like,” Neeley said. “And all of them have been incredibly positive about having their own force within their own school systems.” 

Wilcox said that teachers and parents have been supportive of the establishment of a police force. 

“They know that it’s a necessity, they know that it’s the law that we have SROs in the building and they want to see them,” Wilcox said.  

For Wilcox, the goal is safety and preparedness, but getting to know students is also important, he said. 

"Incidents happen, but as long as we are prepared for them that's what makes us safer," Wilcox said. "My metric of safety would be the amount of students that we can build positive relationships with. That is the foundation of safety."

Officers have been introduced to the principals and will meet the teachers beginning next week. 

“We’re just really excited to get started. We’re really excited to meet our kids,” Wilcox said. “Our officers have been going through orientation this week, learning a lot about our school district.”