Fort Lupton Police Chief John Fryar is sensing a problem, and he came to the Fort Lupton City Council’s town hall on Feb. 8 to outline his concern.
“We’ve been present during a number of events where fights have broken out and where meetings have been contentious,” he told the council without elaborating. “We’ve had some issues, so we are working with the school district to see if our school resource officers can work at some of these events.”
He wants to amend a memorandum of understanding between the department and the Weld Re-8 School District “and still fall within our operational procedures at the same time.” Fryar said asking higher-paid officers to help may have an impact on the department’s budget “but officers making less money? We’re not going to go over budget.”
Fryar also said any change in the working arrangement between the district and the police department won’t result in extra budget issues.
“I don’t see why anyone would object to that,” Mayor Zo Stieber said. “What if no one takes it?”
“We’re going to avoid that,” Fryar joked. “We can’t guarantee the SROs (school resource officers) won’t take on these assignments. They know the kids best. But if they aren’t available, then we’ll offer it to officers
Fryar wasn’t as worried about day-long tournaments, such as the girls’ regional wrestling tournament that Fort Lupton High School hosted over the weekend.