A City Council member questioned if police officers' presence on local campuses is straining the force as officials considered renewing a relationship between the Mustang School District and the Mustang Police Department.
Ward 5 Councilwoman Linda Hagan pulled the contract off the Council's consent agenda during its July 19 meeting. She later voted with the Council to approve the contract.
“My children have gone through the school system and now my grandchildren are in there. I think it's a great school,” she said. “On the other hand, I don't see why we continue to have Mustang police officers up full time at the schools. I think the schools could certainly afford to hire their own enforcement officers or whatever they feel they need, but we have paid a great deal of overtime to policemen this past year and the year before.”

Longstanding partnership
Mustang Police Department has had a presence on Mustang school campuses for almost 20 years. In 2005, that presence was boosted to two Mustang police officers.
The school district also has a Canadian County Sheriff's deputy stationed at Mustang North Middle School who also looks after Mustang Trails, Mustang Creek and Mustang Valley elementary schools. At times the district has contracted for two sheriff's deputies but cut back to one in 2010 as officials faced state funding cuts.
Mustang School District pays for nine months of each officer's salary and benefits since the officer is on campus while class is in session. The rest of the year, officers are back on the streets and paid by their law enforcement agency.
Mustang School District is paying $79,160 for two Mustang officers and $34,407 for one Canadian County deputy for the 2011-2012 school year.
School spokeswoman Mary Leaver said having the officers' on the district's 11 campuses gives staff and students peace of mind.
Mustang school officials expect their enrollment to exceed 9,000 this fall. Last school year 8,833 students attended Mustang campuses — of those 5,963 attended class at a school inside the Mustang city limits.
“He's (the officer) established that relationship with students,” she said. “He's present at events and around campus. For some students and parents, too, it is very comforting to know they have someone with all of those skills and knowledge who is there if we should need someone.”
Overtime concerns
Police Chief Chuck Foley said the city does not have the funds budgeted to pay for the two officers if Council did not approve the contract. He said he isn't certain where the concerns about overtime are coming from since overtime isn't tracked by officer or division within the police department.
While new to the position, Foley said he's learned about higher-than-normal costs due to vehicle and building maintenance, but no one has mentioned overtime or staffing level problems.
“We couldn't produce anything on overtime,” he said.
City Finance Director Heather Campbell said Mustang budgeted $52,000 for officer overtime last fiscal year and $53,000 for this fiscal year. During budget talks, she said no one raised concerns about overtime costs.
Some of that is built into police officers' day. Foley said officers are required to report for duty 15 minutes before their shift and stay 15 minutes after their shift ends, which adds up to 2 1/2 hours of overtime per officer each week. Then, officers also must stay later to respond to an accident or incident that happens near the end of their shifts. Foley said some overtime is part of the nature of police work.

Protecting children, faculty
As far as having officers on Mustang campuses, Foley said it makes sense from several standpoints. During a weekday, he said most adult residents leave the city limits for work, while faculty and students flock to the schools. The city's population is centered during the day at its schools.
Police officers on campus build relationships with students and become another adult at-risk teens can turn to. Officers also respond to assaults at the schools and investigate drug crimes.
“It's crime prevention among the students themselves, and it's a deterrent among those who want to make a statement,” Foley said.
Mustang High School and mid-high combined are the fifth-largest high school program in the state, with 2,380 students attending the campuses. Another 1,000 students attended Mustang Middle School.
With so many students in a small geographic area, Foley said the schools are considered a soft target for terrorists, whether that be a disturbed teenager, a community member or an outside force.
“Things happening on school campuses have a devastating result, especially if you don't have an armed on-scene presence,” he said.

Hiring security guards?
Hagan suggested the school district might be better served employing security guards or off-duty police officers to protect the campuses. In May, Superintendent Bonnie Lightfoot said the district was considering hiring additional security to protect schools after hours. She said the high school campus and Mustang Middle School were targeted by thieves taking equipment, vandals destroying property and trespassers. The local police presence hasn't been enough to deter or solve the crimes, she said, then.
At that time, officials estimated it would cost between $18 per hour to $25 per hour to hire additional security officers with Council on Law Enforcement Education Training certification. Leaver said administrators are still considering it, but no one has been hired.
“I just hate to see city of Mustang police officers tied up,” Hagan said. “On the other hand, the school board has not been real amenable to us as a city. It makes me start looking, well wait a minute, you know. What do they expect from us, and what should we expect from them?”