LANSDALE- North Penn discussed a restructuring of their safety department, including a new initiative that would work to implement a total of six sworn school police officers across the district. The idea was presented in the September 29 Safe Schools Committee meeting by Emergency Management and Safe Schools Coordinator Mr. Brandon Rhone and Superintendent Dr. Todd Bauer.

The district seeks to implement the program by January 2026, with an estimated startup cost of $250,400. The school police officers would have authorities that the current school security guards do not: writing citations, making arrests, and, most glaringly different, being armed. 

“Right now we have two who are ‘sworn police officers,’ but the only real police duty they have is they’re able to communicate on police radio, so if they want to call for help on a walkie-talkie, they can. Our school police right now, that’s the only thing that they have; they can listen. They can’t write citations, they can’t make arrests, they can’t carry a firearm. This model would include all of those things,” Bauer explained. 

The new initiative has already been widely discussed, but has been brought up again under the light of a recent incident, where a 9mm handgun was brought to school by a sixteen-year old student this past Tuesday, October 21. Security was tightened around the school following the incident, with metal detectors at the entrance and more administrators, security, and police monitoring students’ arrival. With both this recent incident and the November 4th election coming up, school safety is a more relevant and discussed issue than ever; school police officers are one factor in that equation. 

“Some people have a really hard time with the fact that there could be a firearm in the school. Police officer or not, that’s upsetting to them. It’s a shame that we even have to have a conversation about trying to keep kids safe while they’re at school. The fact is, it’s 2025 and we do have to have that conversation and make a decision,” Bauer said. 

“I have been in school business and been an administrator for a total of 21 years. I have never once been part of an incident where I thought a school police officer or township police officer needed to even touch their firearm. I’ve been very fortunate to never be in an environment where they had that worst case scenario incident. 

“That said, it is a decision point of, if that were to happen, do you want someone there who has the ability to protect against that? That would be the only reason for an officer to have a firearm: in that worst case scenario where someone comes to the campus with the intent to do harm. The firearm will be the focus for some people, but it’s only a fraction of the conversation,” Bauer continued. 

The topic of firearms is a point of concern for many, but Bauer made the point that police already are in schools, just in a different form. Whether it is for incidents, school events, or check-ins, police frequent the district already. The implementation of school police officers just brings them in a different way. 

“My response to the person who has a really hard time with firearms in our schools, is that there already are. Over 500 times last year, there were police in our schools. That is, on average, at least three police visits to one of our schools every day. So, the fact that we’re going to have six police officers in the entire district with 21 buildings really puts things in perspective,” Bauer explained.  

The school police officers would also help to “streamline efficiencies,” Bauer explained, by having resources within the school that typically would require a township police officer. 

“You don’t need to call a police officer who’s out there serving our community. We would deal with things on our own and not take the community resources to do that. I think it will save some time for our administrators and security guards, and I think it also helps efficiency for our police department.” 

The process of selecting school police officers would come from an application process, and selection would likely require the approval of the building principal, Dr. Bauer, Mr. Rhone, and assistant superintendent Dr. D’ana Waters. 

“Not all, but most of our security guards are or were police officers, so they do have all of the same training and certifications. Most people think this is simply arming a security officer, but these would be people who are actually police; they have all of that training, all of that background, and would be sworn in by the county,” Bauer said.

On top of experience, the application process would be looking for the ability to maintain strong relationships with the students and faculty. One of the greatest advantages to the school police officers is the relationships that they would be able to maintain with those at North Penn.

“It’s not just an officer from the township that doesn’t know our building, doesn’t know our kids, and doesn’t know what we expect of them. The fact that we have relationships with our kids and we know all things North Penn, I think that’s really important. It’s also to enhance the relationship between our township and police in general, because kids will see the police every day and they’re like, ‘This is someone who cares about me and wants to protect me.’ I think that’s a good thing,” Bauer continued. 

Bauer aims for the officers to play a great role in the school community; not only would they be a school police officer, but they would be an integral part of North Penn.

“If this role and this model is done well, the person is an integral part of the school community. That person is fully integrated, coming to faculty meetings, showing up at student activities, building a rapport with the staff, the students, and the parents. They are full members of the community. It’s not just a patrol person, it’s a colleague,” Bauer said.