By Aaron Michell
When Osceola County voters hit the polls August 2nd, they’ll be voting on two millage proposals that will greatly affect the sheriff’s department and local school districts going forward.
Proposal 1 is the Renewal for the Road Patrol Millage. Initially passed in 1994 – and further approved by voters in ’98, 2004, ’10, and ’16 – the one (1) mill proposal is designed to continue funding for six road deputies, vehicles, and equipment for the Sheriff’s department.
Proposal 2 is new to the ballot, and will provide each of the local school districts [Marion, Evart, Pine River, and Reed City] with a community resource officer. The proposal reads: “County Community/School Resource Officers in the Schools And Sheriff/Jail Department General Operations Proposal. Proposal 2 is a one (1) mill proposal, that will run from 2022 through 2025.
We caught up with Osceola County Undersheriff Jed Avery to get some insight into what these proposals mean for voters and for the sheriff’s department. Avery previously worked as a school resource officer for Evart Public Schools from 2004-07 and shared with us some of what he provided for the school district at that time.
For more questions or information on Tuesday’s proposals 1 and 2, readers are encouraged to contact Sheriff Mark Cool at 231-878-0196 or by email at markcoolforsheriff@gmail.com
Marion Press: If proposal 2 passes, what will these resource officers provide each school? What will their job be?
Jed: It’s truly going to be different for each school. Each school has different needs. So it’s going to vary: From putting on drug prevention education so these kids can make better decisions, to driver’s training, fake traffic stops – if you disagree with a ticket, that’s not the place – there’s a court, and different steps that you can take if you feel you’re wronged. [At Evart] I’d do government class, and talk about amendments. We’d have career day.
On a day-to-day basis, I’d be in the hallway, where I could be visibly seen. People could come up to me and ask me questions, maybe things aren’t going well at home, or maybe they’ve got concerns about a significant other not acting right. Being in the gym, or the cafeteria – if a kid might be sitting by himself, I’d go down and sit and have lunch with them.
I’d fill in for an hour or so if a teacher needed to be gone for an IDP. We came up with action plans for students, behavioral plans – we’d be part of that behavioral plan, and if they break that contracted behavior plan, we’d take them home – obviously their parents would be a part of that.
MP: So it sounds like the job of these resource officers is going to depend on what each school district needs.
Jed: The ultimate mission is safety and security for kids and staff, and everything else just falls into place. [At Evart] We’d check well-beings, I’d do home visits, and check well-beings if there were concerns.
We’re doing safety plans, active shooter training – we’re truly the liaison between education and law enforcement. That school resource officer is going to have all the schematics; once a month taking officers through that school, so it’s not new territory if something bad happens. Fire drills, and lockdowns: how can we be more effective, and more efficient?
In Evart, they needed me at the middle school doing boater safety; at the elementary, it was, “Hey, can you read to the kids?” I did bowling trips, I was a chaperone: I did the dances, I did canoe trips.
The main focus is we’re not there to hammer kids, their brains aren’t fully developed until the age of 25; it’s a good way for them to realize, hey, this is a human being in this uniform. Every school is a little bit different.
MP: So proposal 2 will fund the resource officers and everything that comes with that.
Jed: Training, vehicles, equipment, mobile data terminals, uniforms.
They’re going to be wearing a polo that says “Sheriff’ on the back, with the school’s insignia. We want to integrate, and bridge that gap, so students don’t feel like they’re in a prison. So they stick out, but they don’t stick out. You’re just more approachable when you’re wearing a polo and dress pants, versus wearing that [police uniform].
MP: And Proposal 1 – that sounds like it’s something that the department has relied on to fund much of the road patrol over the years. If that millage renewal doesn’t pass, how would that affect the department?
Jed: We’d have to go to less than 24-hour coverage. We’d have to do something where we’d be done at 2 o’clock in the morning, and we wouldn’t come back on until 6 – there’d just have to be someone on call during the middle of the night. There are very few counties that still do that. And the state police normally has one trooper for Mecosta-Osceola, and that’s it.
MP: That seems like a pretty big deal. What would the Sheriff’s department look like at full staff?
Jed: When we get fully staffed, at 100%, we’ll have a guy in TNT [narcotics] and squash some of this drug [crime]. We’d have our 416 car. If something went down, we’d have access to our school resource officers.
And people don’t realize, in the summertime, these [school resource officers] are going to maintain their community relations and put on different classes, but now we’ve just doubled our patrol – at our busiest time of the year. So our response times should be way better.