HALLSVILLE, TX (KYTX) - Two more East Texas school districts look to increase security, in a big way. Most campuses already have resource officers,
but a police department would employ officers who are on campus all day. Spring Hill ISD is in the beginning stages of getting full-time officers on campus, but Hallsville ISD is already putting its PD in place.
Students at Hallsville High School have gotten to know Officer Frankie Dunagan as a school resource officer, but soon they'll know him as the Chief of the Hallsville ISD Police Department. It's a move the school board made final Monday to increase on-campus security.
"Manpower, getting more officers at the school," Officer Dunagan said.
He will be joined by two or three other officers stationed at the junior high and middle schools. He said the school is establishing a police department to be prepared.
"Everything from theft to narcotics, to weapons, anything can happen at a school," he said.
Spring Hill ISD is following in Hallsville's footsteps.
"Some other districts had started their own police department and looked in the pros and cons of that and brought it to the board last night," said Superintendent Wes Jones. The school district had a police department on campus a few years ago, and he wants to revive the department for security reasons.
"There's a lot of different doors that are around different schools that were built longer ago like the junior high and middle school," he said.
And also, to crack down on excessive absences.
"That gets to a point of truancy and then that would be turned over to a police officer and then they would file on that," Jones said.
But Jones said the district is still researching the possibility of the Spring Hill ISD Police Department, and looking at the example of others before making a decision.
The Hallsville ISD Police Department still has to be approved by the state, then will be started sometime this school year.
