MISD board approves three year police expansion plan

ODESSA, Texas (KOSA) - Midland ISD board members approved a three year MISD police expansion plan for the district; the plan would increase the number of officers in the district by 16 over three years.

“Particular incidents have increased and the number of officers we’ve had available to respond to them have stayed the same so as a result of that it appeared that it would be necessary to increase the number of officers at the campus level,” said MISD Chief of Police Arthur Barclay.

The total proposal cost is a little less than $2 million which includes salaries, equipment vehicles etc.

The funds come from the local funds budget and a Midland County Law Enforcement Grant.

The idea is to start the expansion in this upcoming 23-24 school year

“We’ll be able to service the community and elementary campuses much better and to the point where we don’t have to worry about the safety and security of those campuses even though we already have a pretty good setup,” said Barclay.

Currently all of the officers are assigned to secondary campuses, as a result the elementary schools are secondary priority.

“Right now if we can use the officers that we currently have and just devote them to the secondary campuses then that would free us up with the new  assignments to concentrate 100% on elementary campus coverage,” said Barclay.

School safety has been a focus for the district. Emergency Management Coordinator Tim Allen says his goal is prevention, which includes coordinating safety protocols between parents, teachers and students.

“Every life is precious so we need to do our mission for Chief Barclay and I which is to provide that safe and secure environment where our students can succeed,” said Allen.

All MISD employees have an alert app on their phones and desktops, which will alert them to an ongoing emergency situation while allowing them to connect with first responders. Allen also places emphasis on drills.

“It really helps them with getting out of denial when an emergency response occurs, getting through deliberation and getting to the decisive action phase,” said Allen.

Expanding the MISD police force has been in the works for a while, it only happened that the decision to do so was approved the day after Nashville’s school shooting.

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