South Bend private security company paying off-duty police $50 hr. to patrol schools
SOUTH BEND IN Nov 2 2021 — Amid ongoing discussions about whether police should be stationed inside South Bend schools, the district is working with a private company that is recruiting police officers to cover a shortage in security guards.
District administrators say they are relying on a company they have used in the past, Trinity Protection Services, to fill shortages on a temporary basis until the district can hire staff of its own.
The company has offered to pay off-duty officers $50 an hour for their work in schools, records from the Mishawaka Police Department show.
Trinity will recruit and employ security guards and bill South Bend schools for its services. The company has already reached out to local law enforcement agencies about openings and filled at least one position at Clay High School.
“The safety, security and well-being of all students, staff and visitors in our school buildings is critical to our educational mission and remains our top priority,” South Bend Superintendent Todd Cummings said in a statement. “Though we originally requested additional security at each of our high schools, we are now focused solely on Clay High School for additional supervision because of security staffing issues there.”
School administrators say security staff serve a different role from law enforcement, who are placed in buildings as resource officers. But the owner of the security company working with South Bend schools said the district specifically requested off-duty police officers to be placed in buildings.
Those officers are armed with department-issued weapons, and the company does not provide training specific to school settings, the company’s owner told The Tribune.
The recruitment effort comes after activists this summer called for the removal of police officers from South Bend schools, and after several law enforcement agencies responded last week to a fight at Clay High School.
“We haven’t resolved the debate as to whether or not having police in buildings is, first of all, really creating the safest environment we possibly can,” said Oletha Jones, a member of the South Bend school board. “To use these incidents that have occurred recently to push that agenda forward, I think, is premature and needs to be rethought.”
Each South Bend high school has positions allocated for eight to nine security staff, Assistant Superintendent Brandon White said. This year, however, the corporation has struggled to fill all the positions.
With current shortages, White said in an email, between four and six security guards work daily in each school.
So, White said, the district turned to a private security company to temporarily fill openings. White, who is the district’s assistant superintendent for academics, has overseen recent communications with the company.
He answered The Tribune’s questions for this story via email before making himself available for a 15-minute interview on Monday.
White said only that the company was named Trinity and that there was “a representative here in town that we work with.”
He also said the district has used the company for at least two years “as a support for security needs,” in schools like Clay and Rise Up Academy.
White initially agreed to provide a reporter with contact information for the company’s representative. He had not shared those details by The Tribune’s publication deadline on Tuesday.
The Tribune, however, was able to reach the security company on its own. On Tuesday afternoon, the owner of South Bend-based Trinity Protection Group said in an interview that his company had been contacted a few weeks ago by city schools.
Neil Graber said his company had previously placed an unarmed civilian security guard in an adult learning program run by South Bend schools.
South Bend school administrators say the role of security staff is different from resource officers, who are sworn police trained to serve in schools.
South Bend places five resource officers in its secondary buildings. Each belongs to a local police department, completes 40 hours of training specific to schools and falls under a contract outlining their responsibilities.
The district is currently working with the city and South Bend Police Department to revise the language of a nearly decade-old contract setting expectations for school resource officers.
As for Trinity, district leaders say they are seeking student supervision services from the security company. White said the company’s workers would not act in a police capacity and that the district has not specifically requested armed security.
But Indiana law gives sworn police officers, like those being recruited by Trinity, authority to make arrests anywhere in the state, whether they are on or off duty, South Bend FOP President Harvey Mills pointed out.
“Police officers have arrest powers 24 hours a day, seven days a week throughout the state of Indiana,” Mills said. “Even in a school setting, their oath says they’ll uphold the law and the Constitution of Indiana. That’s still their duty even if they’re off-duty; they’ll just be paid by a different entity.”
Also, Trinity’s owner says off-duty officers recruited by his company carry department-issued weapons and equipment approved for off-duty use.
Graber said his company is still in the process of recruiting officers to serve in the schools. He declined to answer how many positions the district is seeking to fill and how much the company is offering to pay off-duty officers.
A Mishawaka Police Department email obtained by The Tribune via a public records request reads, “Neil Graber is trying to get several part time positions filled for various South Bend Schools. As of now the pay is $50.00 and will be taxed through his security company.”
The email to Mishawaka officers, dated October 18, 2021, further states, “Apparently, the job is scheduled for the rest of this week but may go longer.”
Graber told The Tribune that Trinity-employed officers receive training from their respective police departments and that the company doesn’t give additional training for work in schools. The South Bend district is currently the company’s only school client, he said.
“Our main job is we get kids out in the hallways, wandering out in the hallways during class hours, try to focus them and get them in the right place,” Graber said. “And we give an assisting hand to the administration and to the security staff that they have already installed in schools.”
The school district doesn’t have a contract with Trinity, said White, the assistant superintendent, and the company’s workers follow expectations set by building principals.
When asked if written responsibilities are provided to Trinity employees, White said the district uses its security job description.
Building security positions currently posted to the district’s employment page state that staff are “responsible for maintaining order and discipline, preventing crime, investigating student code violations of school board policies, and detaining students violating the law or school board policies on school property or at school-sponsored events.”
The postings request “security experience in a public school setting,” but do not address authority held by off-duty police officers. Those positions are advertised to pay $12.48 to $15.92 per hour.
“We partner with Trinity because they can provide us with individuals who have training in supervising,” White said. “That’s all we ask. That’s all we need at this point. Anything outside of that job description is not something we’re asking for or nor do we want.”
It’s not clear whether security officers provided to South Bend schools would stay day-to-day in the same buildings while the district continues its search for employees.
“We would love to have the same individual, but that’s not something that’s explicitly stated,” White said.
Mills, the FOP president, said he sees benefits to having security guards who maintain an open line of communication with nearby officers. He questioned, though, the amount of training those security guards receive.
“I’d much rather have a dedicated officer because that officer would get to know the kids,” Mills said. “But, if there aren’t enough (school resource officers), I’m all for an off-duty officer working there.”
Jones said she and at least one other school board member were not aware of the district’s relationship with the private security firm before last week.
She also said the district could be focusing too much attention on security in response to recent fights without getting at the root causes of fighting.
“I think there’s more to be considered,” Jones said. “Is it expedient to have more of a police presence or do we need to have more of a proactive approach?”
Jorden Giger, an organizer with the South Bend chapter of Black Lives Matter, questioned whether seeking the services of a private security company was the best use of money while the district’s own administrators continue to emphasize the importance of cutting back on expenses.
“Why would you put more money into policing when you’ve already made promises that you were going to invest in additional support for students and teachers?” Giger asked.
South Bend Tribune
