School police give community ‘peace of mind’
Paul Epps, Butler Area School District’s director of safety and security, said one of the biggest changes he experienced in his 16 years with the district happened in 2012.
“When I first started, we weren’t armed,” Epps said. “After the Sandy Hook shooting, then all of our officers became armed.”
Epps, who has been with the district since 2007, said the decision was ultimately prophetic.
“I’d like to believe that our district was a little forward thinking,” he said. “Because, as you can see right now with how society has changed, just about every district is employing school police officers — which no one did back then.”
The decision to arm the district’s officers required approval by a judge, according to Epps, as well as weapons qualifications for each officer.
“Hopefully we never have to engage somebody,” Epps said, “but that’s why we’re here.”
Epps explained that the rationale behind arming the officers was complicated, but the decision was an important one.
“A lot of it has to do with school shootings; a lot of it is just where your community and where your school is located in the community,” Epps said. “There is a lot of thinking that goes into it, but it has definitely given a lot of our residents as well as our students a peace of mind to know that security measures are in place here.”
The effort to bring the community that peace of mind is massive, Epps explained.
“It’s a pretty full day,” he said with a laugh.
As the district’s safety director, Epps is responsible for organizing everything from directing traffic to expulsion hearings.
“Let me tell you with our secondary, here at the high school,” Epps said. “Our day: We have an officer down at the intersection to help with crossing students, and he’s there at 7 a.m. Other officers, they come into the building and they’ll set up metal detectors to prepare for students coming in.”
All 11 schools in the district have metal detectors. Each metal detector is staffed by school police officers.
“We put each child through the metal detector and screen them,” Epps said. “From there, we’re in charge of whoever enters the building.”
The metal detectors are active and staffed through the full day, and additional officers are responsible for patrolling the building.
“We respond to fights; we respond to disorderly students. We might have vaping incidents,” Epps said. “We’ll do some transporting from one building to another, if necessary — it’s a full day.”
What makes it possible, Epps said, is the officers relationship with one another, the district and the community.
“The thing that is great for me is that pretty much every officer that we employ, minus one or two, I’ve worked with personally over the years,” Epps said. “And I would definitely like to point out, I work for a really wonderful administration — from the superintendent, assistant superintendent, building principals — we’ve established a good rapport.”
Epps worked for 25 years as a state trooper before taking his position with the district. He also coached girls basketball at Butler at the time.
“We have a good rapport with the local law enforcement agencies as well as the district attorney,” Epps said. “That’s what it takes to be successful and to keep our students safe.”
