ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, N.C. — The calls are growing to increase school safety. Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page wants to use unused COVID funding for more School Resource Officers nationwide.
Sheriff Page says the local and federal governments should use the money for school safety. He reached out to our North Carolina Senators and members of Congress, and today Republican Senator Thomas Tillis co-sponsored a bill to make that idea a reality.
"Well first off, school safety is paramount for every child, every official, parent, and anybody in our community. Our kids being safe and our schools being safe is paramount."
Sheriff Page wants lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to come together for the safety of our children.
"I support the effort for legislation to help us be able to use some of these dollars for school safety, target hardening, mental health concerns, and protecting our schools by hiring school resource officers."
Today we spoke with multiple Rockingham County parents that agree, like Nicole Boswell.
"It's more right now about security, but in the long run it's going to help more confidence in the police system."
In May, President Joe Biden said that $10 billion from the America Rescue Plan should be used by cities and counties "to improve public safety." He didn't specifically mention school resource officers, however, he did mention the hiring of more officers overall.