Residents attending athletic events at Meridian High School this fall may see some familiar uniforms and patrol cars after the City Council on Tuesday agreed to allow Meridian Public School District’s police department hire off duty officers to help with security during games.
MPSD Police Chief Cornelius Parks said he is looking to hire off duty, certified officers to patrol around the perimeter of the Meridian High campus. While that would not normally need council approval, he said he is requesting the officers be allowed to use Meridian patrol cars and wear their Meridian Police Department uniforms while on the job.
The city and school district have had similar agreements in the past, Meridian Police Department Assistant Chief Patrick Gale said.
Meridian Police Chief Deborah Naylor Young said the law won’t allow her department to provide Parks with the assistance he needs with on duty police, but off duty officers are free to take the job if they want. The council’s approval would be for the use of the city equipment while on the job, she said.
Cheyenne Trussell, athletic director for MPSD, said the school district will be footing the bill for the additional manpower, and the district’s administration has determined it will also assume the liability in the event of an incident. What the council is being asked to do, he said, is to draft and sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the district explaining each party’s responsibilities.
City Attorney Will Simmons said he knows similar agreements have been made in the past and will go back to see how they were structured. The use of city equipment is something the council has done previously and can do again if it so chooses.
Simmons said he will get to work putting the documents together, however drafting an MOU agreeable to both parties and having it signed in the next week is unlikely.