North Idaho College will soon have a uniformed city police officer stationed full-time on campus. Beginning Aug. 25, the community college will be the first in Idaho with its own school resource officer. NIC President Joe Dunlap told The Press Thursday that the college has wanted to upgrade its security profile for several years. The tipping point for hiring an SRO, Dunlap said, was a new statute approved by lawmakers earlier this year which allows concealed weapons to be carried on public college and university campuses in the state. "What the SRO provides to us is a direct link to the Coeur d'Alene Police Department," Dunlap said. "A liaison that, should there be a crisis on campus, can draw on the resources from the Coeur d'Alene Police Department more readily than we have been able to. It's a great partnership and we welcome the new individual on campus." The college will pay the city of Coeur d'Alene $50,000 to have the SRO stationed on campus, and NIC will pay all overtime/Keith Cousins, Coeur d'Alene Press. More here.

Thoughts?