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Hutto ISD working to recruit more officers
House Bill 3, requiring every school campus to have an officer, has been in effect since last year. But school districts across the state are having trouble hiring enough officers to be in compliance with the bill. FOX 7's Jessica Rivera has more on how Hutto ISD is addressing the issue.
HUTTO, Texas - House Bill 3 took effect on Sept. 1, 2023, but many school districts across the state are having trouble hiring enough police officers to be in compliance with the bill.
The challenge most school districts have is hiring police officers with ISD specialization. It's a challenge Hutto ISD is seeing, going from 9 officers to 18.
Hutto, along with other school districts, had to get creative to get police officers to join the school district’s police department.
Last month, the Hutto ISD board approved creating a safety office to police the cadet pipeline in hopes of getting qualified candidates.
"We've expanded to where we can take a safety officer and give them a better career path to be able to serve in that capacity for at least one year, and then apply to the police department for open positions," says Hutto ISD police chief William Edwards.
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Texas: The Issue Is - Rep. Moody discusses HB 3 after it passed through Texas House
This week, the Texas House overwhelmingly passed HB3, putting an armed officer, security guard, or district staff member on every campus statewide.
Under this program, anyone interested will apply to be a safety officer and will work one full year with the district.
"We could sponsor them to go to a police academy, and they would go as a paid employee full time to the peace corps, a peace officers academy, and after about nine months, graduate and then go through our in-house training program, which takes, again, about another 4 or 5 weeks," says Chief Edwards.
Hutto ISD police chief William Edwards says it’s not just about being in compliance with House Bill 3, but for teachers and students to have a safe learning environment.
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"This way we're able to look at an individual that's already mastered one side of that with, you know, the rapport building with the kids and that the educator, the counselor, and the mentor portions of that triad that we talked about," says Chief Edwards.
Hutto ISD police officer Terrance Frazier says giving officers this opportunity will create positive reinforcement for everyone.
"It makes me even more confident that we're going to have more police officers coming in. I'll have with me, having invested my kids here, I have an investment, so I'll have more people it will be able to respond to," says Hutto ISD police officer Terrance Frazier.
Chief Edwards says if you’re interested in working for a small hometown-feeling school district, Hutto ISD is hiring.
The cadet training program begins in April. So, by this time next year, they'll be well on their way to being an officer.