Officers to become fixture in all Hoover schools

For the remainder of the school year, a police officer will be stationed at every school in the Hoover system.

On Tuesday, Jan. 8, the Hoover City Council passed a resolution that increased the 2013 fiscal year budget by an amount not to exceed $100,000. The funding allows the Hoover Police Department to hire four temporary, full-time officers through the end of the school year, which ends September 2013. This will permit the department to place one officer in every school through the entirety of the school day.

“The big thing is, this will create a comfort level for teachers, parents and students,” Hoover Mayor Gary Ivey said. “We want to be proactive instead of reactive in these situations; it’s something we feel they deserve.”

The decision comes on the heels of a Dec. 14 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. that left 20 children and seven adults dead, including the shooter.