School resource officers coming to Waimea, Keaau middle schools

School resource officers will be added to Waimea and Keaau middle schools by the new school year, thanks to a $250,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice.

The grant is scheduled to be approved Wednesday by the Hawaii County Council, adding an armed police officer at each of the schools. School resource officers are already in place in Kealakehe, Konawaena, Hilo Intermediate, Waiakea, Honokaa and Pahoa, said North Kona Councilwoman Karen Eoff, the sponsor of the resolution.

“I believe that the school resource officers are very effective in our middle schools,” Eoff said. “I’m glad to see that with the addition of Waimea and Keaau, we are rounding out resource officers through most of our island schools.”

The goal is to have an officer in every middle school, said Hawaii Police Department Assistant Chief Henry Tavares. He said middle schools are the best use for the officers.

“They develop relationships with the seventh- and eighth-graders,” Tavares said. “They teach them the evils of drugs, so by the time they’ve gone on to high school, they know how to say no. We’re trying to build a strong foundation.”

The officers work in the Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or D.A.R.E. program.

The positions are competitive, Tavares said, with officers already on the force applying for them. The officers will be selected by Police Chief Harry Kubojiri, he said.

The federal government pays for the officers for the first three years; the county commits to adding the positions permanently and funding them after that.

The council will take up the matter as Resolution 106 at its meeting Wednesday at the West Hawaii Civic Center. The public can comment on agenda items at 9:15 a.m. at that location, or by videoconference from Hilo council chambers, the Waimea council office, the Kohala county facility, Hawaiian Ocean View Estates Community Center and the Pahoa Neighborhood facility.