STAFFORD COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE
NEWS RELEASE

GRANT TO PARTIALLY FUND 6 NEW RESOURCE OFFICERS

Stafford, Va. The Stafford County Sheriff's Office is pleased to report that it has received preliminary notification that the Virginia Criminal Justice Services Board has approved a grant to partially fund 6 new school resource officers that will be assigned to 6 Stafford County middle schools.

Currently the Sheriff's Office is providing 5 school resource officers for each of the county's 5 high schools, 2 school resource officers for the county's 8 middle schools and 2 D.A.R.E. deputies for the 17 elementary schools. The additional 6 school resource officers will ensure that every middle school in Stafford County has a school resource officer. With hiring and training requirements it is anticipated that the 6 new school resource officers slated for the 6 remaining middle schools will be in place for the 2014-2015 school year.

The 4 year grant from the Criminal Justice Services Board will fund 50% of the cost to hire the new school resource officers during the first year of the grant, pending approval of the terms of the grant by the Stafford Board of Supervisors. The funds for the grant originated from a $1.3 million dollar appropriation requested by Governor McDonnell and approved by the General Assembly. With the approval of the Stafford County Board of Supervisor's Public Safety Committee, Sheriff Charles Jett submitted the grant application to the Criminal Justice Services Board.