Jasper city and school corporation to share police officer

Jim O’neal, WITZ AM/FM News Director contributed to this story

Monday night, the Jasper School Board approved hiring Jasper police officer Jason Knies as a part-time resource officer.

The City of Jasper and the Greater Jasper Consolidated School Corporation have been discussing sharing the budget for an officer. To accommodate both entities, the two are adding the shared cost of the new officer to their 2015 budget.

Last week, the Jasper Common Council decided to keep the $123,000 budgeted to cover 60 percent of a shared officer’s pay, the officer’s equipment, and a patrol car. The school corporation would pay for the remaining 40 percent of the officer’s pay. With Monday’s decision, Knies will be paid by both entities rather than a new officer.

To assist in paying for the new position, the school corporation announced it had received approval for a Secured Safe Schools grant for $25,000 administered through the Indiana Department of Homeland Security. The grant is a dollar-for-dollar matching grant so the school corporation will supply an additional $25,000 for a total of $50,000 to fund the position.

“We have been communicating with the Jasper City Police regarding obtaining an officer who could serve both as a part time school resource officer as well as a city police officer for the City of Jasper,” Dr. Tracy Lorey, Greater Jasper School Corporation superintendent told the board Monday night. “After you received your agenda it had come to my attention that the city police have gotten their green light to move ahead with designating an individual who can serve in both roles.”

Knies has been involved with the D.A.R.E program with fifth grade students and has received the National School Resource Officer Training, one of the requirements that the state had as a part of approving that expenditure as a part of the grant.

Knies fills the role the school corporation is seeking to fill. An officer that has the training to respond to incidents or crises as well someone who can relate to the students and teachers in the corporation as he fulfills his duties.

“So, he has experience with our students – many of our students know who he is already,” Lorey said. “He comes highly recommended by the department (police).”

The board passed a motion unanimously to approve the request to hire Jason Knies as the school resource officer.

“It’s a natural partnership with our local law enforcement to assist with school resource and safety needs,” she said. “I think he’s very upstanding and will be a benefit to the safety needs of our district.”

Knies will start in the new position when school starts. He will spend about 20 hours per week in the school district, between the five Jasper schools. His home base will be at Jasper High School and he will work in uniform and armed.

With the announcement today regarding Knies, Jasper Police Chief Michael Bennett confirmed the department will open up the hiring process for another officer in January when the 2015 budget goes into effect. The new officer would bring the department up to 22 officers, with Knies being part-time during the school year and full-time during the summer.