Article VIII of the current School Resource Officer (SRO) agreement between the District School Board of Pasco County and the New Port Richey Police Department allows either party to terminate the contract with 90 days written notice. We are asking the City Council to enable the New Port Richey Police Department to provide the District School Board of Pasco County with such a notice to remove our SROs from the schools by the beginning of the next school year. The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office will take over the SRO responsibilities of Gulf Middle School and Gulf High School on or about August 3, 2023.

The New Port Richey Police Department is establishing a Community Response Team (CRT) that will focus on mental health, addiction, homeless outreach, and community policing initiatives within the City of New Port Richey. This unit will have a sergeant, a corporal, and two officers. The two officers needed for this essential unit will come from former SRO positions. Reallocating our former SRO positions to staff the CRT team is a better use of these resources for the Police Department and the City of New Port Richey. Gulf Middle School and Gulf High School will be staffed with SROs from the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, and the New Port Richey Police Department will be lending support as needed.

We have discussed this with the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office and the District. We plan to continuously work and train with the schools, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office SROs, and students regarding school safety practices. The school district and Pasco County Sheriff’s Office understand our decision and look forward to continuing our partnerships to keep our schools safe.