What's happening
This bill allows county sheriffs to appoint school resource officers to private schools in certain counties under specific conditions.
Why it matters
Expands school safety options for private schools in rural and suburban areas. by allowing county sheriffs (outside of New York City and other large cities) to assign deputies as resource officers, but only when no local police are available, helping address security gaps.
Places employment responsibility and liability on private schools. rather than on the sheriff’s department or the county, meaning resource officers appointed under this bill are considered employees of the school, not public officials—potentially affecting legal responsibility and insurance.
Requires local legislative approval and allows for oversight. by mandating that county legislatures or boards of supervisors must authorize sheriff appointments, and by allowing sheriffs to set written procedures and revoke appointments if standards aren’t met, ensuring local control and accountability.
Limits costs and administrative burden. by capping administrative fees at $50 per officer per year, keeping the program affordable for private schools while still allowing counties to recover some costs.
Albany, before your first meeting.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Allow Private School Officers
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to local government
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
8718
IN SENATE
May 10, 2018
Introduced by Sen. SERINO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Local Government
AN ACT to amend the county law, in relation to appointment of school resource officers to private elementary and secondary schools
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The county law is amended by adding a new section 663 to read as follows:
§ 663. Appointment of school resource officers at private elementary and secondary schools. 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the sheriff of any county, any part or all of which falls outside the limits of a city having a population of one million or more, may appoint a deputy as a school resource officer, school safety officer, school security officer or any other substantially similar position or office that is designed to provide safety and/or security on school grounds, to a requesting private elementary or secondary school where there are no available local police officers for appointment. The sheriff may appoint such school security officers pursuant to this section only if more than fifty percent of the total acreage of real property owned by or under the control of such private elementary or secondary school is located within such sheriff's county of jurisdiction and outside the geographic boundaries of any city within such county. The sheriff may appoint such school security officers only if the county legislature or board of supervisors, pursuant to local law or resolution duly adopted, has authorized the sheriff to make such appointments. Any such appointed school resource officers shall be employees of the private elementary or secondary school requesting such appointment and shall not be officers, agents, servants or employees of the appointing sheriff or his county of jurisdiction nor be considered public officers, agents, servants or employees.
2. The sheriff may condition appointment as private school resource officers upon compliance by such school resource officers with written procedures established by the sheriff in order to ensure a coordinated and cooperative law enforcement effort and the payment of an administra-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15906-01-8
S. 8718 2
tive fee not to exceed fifty dollars per year per school resource officer, and may revoke such appointments at any time for material non-compliance with the requirements of such written procedures or for any other reason that shall disqualify a school resource officer from being such school resource officer pursuant to the provisions of this section.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become a law.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the county law, in relation to appointment of school resource officers to private elementary and secondary schools
Purpose
To allow the appointment to school resource officers to private elemen- tary and secondary schools by county sheriffs.
Summary of provisions
Section 1: Allows for county sheriffs departments to appoint school resource officers to private elementary and secondary schools
Section 2: Provides the effective date.
Justification
Currently, only town police departments may appoint school resource officers for schools, however some rural school do not have a town police department. This would allow sheriff departments to do so as well.
Legislative history
New bill.
Fiscal implications
None to the state.
Effective date
This act shall take ninetieth day after it shall have become a law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.