2 McCandless cops picked to serve as North Allegheny's first school resource officers

Two veteran officers from the Town of McCandless police department have been selected to serve as the first school resource officers for the North Allegheny School District.

Officer Mike Metzger will be stationed full time at North Allegheny Intermediate School and Officer Todd Ray will be at the senior high school.

Metzger has been a police officer for 25 years — 10 with the City of Pittsburgh and 15 for McCandless. Ray has been a McCandless police officer for 20 years. Before that he worked briefly for the Allegheny County Police Department and served 23 years in the military.

They are scheduled to be on duty when classes resume from summer break on Aug. 23.

“I am looking forward to building new relationships and interacting with students, staff and families,” Metzger said. “This opportunity is a wonderful addition to our police department’s community policing efforts. I believe strongly the school resource officer program will reduce police involvement with criminal behavior inside and outside of school.”

In addition to having an armed officer in the buildings to respond to critical incidents, the officers will counsel students and provide leadership to the school safety committee. The officers also will conduct training programs for students and staff on topics such as internet safety, cyber bullying, drug and alcohol awareness, peer pressure/decision making and crime trends that impact youth.

The officers also will perform vulnerability checks and providing suggestions for how security can be improved.

With more than 8,400 students, North Allegheny is the largest suburban school district in Allegheny County.

Discussions about having armed officers in district buildings began in earnest following the Feb. 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., where 17 people were killed and 17 others injured.

In April, the school board approved spending $225,000 to launch the school resource officer program. In the past five years, NA has spent an estimated $2 million to improve security in its buildings, according to district officials.

Superintendent Robert Scherrer said the district is looking forward to having the officers present each day in district schools.

“We believe that they will be great resources to students, staff, and families, and that the relationships they build will extend beyond the buildings,” he said.

While the officers will refer most disciplinary problems to the school district, they will intervene directly in incidents involving, among other things: weapons, assaults and drug possession.

The officers will operate under training outlined by the National Association of School Resource Officers, which includes topics such as:

• Understanding special needs students

• Diversity

• Social media

• School law

• The SRO as an informal counselor/mentor

• Understanding the teen brain

• Sex trafficking of youth

• Preventing violence in schools

Tony LaRussa is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tony at 724-772-6368 or tlarussa@tribweb.com or via Twitter @TonyLaRussaTrib.