Hartland High School Trading Sheriff's Deputy For Security Director

When students return to Hartland High School next month, they no longer will have a deputy from the Livingston Country Sheriff's Department in the halls as a resource officer.

Instead, the Hartland School District has hired Mike Capra, a retired deputy, as director of security — in a move to reduce costs. He formerly served at the school's resource officer for several years, but now will not carry a gun or have arrest powers and it'll now take longer for police to respond to calls to the school.

Hartland Superintendent Janet Sifferman said the decision will save $30,000 as the district faced a multimillion dollar hole to plug this past budget year following state cuts and increases to retirement costs. She said hiring a former deputy will help make the transition seamless and provide the school the level of security it needs.

"Every year we try to get creative in our thinking in how we can trim but still offer the same kind of services," Sifferman said. "Mike was available. … We had him for about five or six years."

Sheriff Bob Bezotte said he's disappointed with the move but understands that budgets are tight.

"We will do our very best to keep an eye on them and help them out when we can," he said in an email to Hartland Patch.

The deputy position has been at the school for at least 25 years, according to Bezotte. In the past year, there have been some serious incidents at the high school level that resulted in expulsions of students, including a bomb threat, an assault with a sharp object and for drugs.

Sifferman said before the decision was made, she consulted with Bezotte about the move to make sure there's still a strong relationship between the school and department, which serves as the primary police agency for the area.

Bezotte said there will be a change in service because now the district will have to call 911 for a police response that will be dictated by whomever is closest.

"In many cases having a school resource officer on staff with arrest powers means a quicker response," he said. "Fortunately, we do have a dedicated car in Hartland and Tyrone Township, but this could raise a problem if this car is tied up elsewhere on a complaint or accident. The Michigan State Police will also respond when needed but this also will be by the closest car available."

Bezotte also said the opportunity to build a direct relationship between the department and students will be lost.

"The young men and women attending school can see first hand that we are their at the school to help them," he said. "It builds in most cases long lasting and impressionable relationships. Once these relationships are developed with the students and the trust is there, the school resource officer develops so much more information on drugs in the school, who is dealing drugs, fights, crimes etc. I cannot begin to tell you how much crime is stopped by having the patrol car and the deputy on school grounds."

Sifferman said she's confident Capra can help continue to foster a good relationship between the department and Hartland schools.

"We're very confident in Mike. He knows the sheriff's department (and the court system)," she said. "We were very pleased the way Mike interacts with kids. He will be a great asset."

Bezotte said there also could be other budgetary ramifications for his department — the possible loss of one deputy position next year. Under the previous arrangement, the schools paid the deputy's cost during the school year while county paid during the summer.

The sheriff said police service cutbacks are occurring at every level of government, noting that across Michigan, the state is down more than 2,500 officers since Sept. 11, 2001.

"We just keep our fingers crossed that nothing bad happens," he said.