The company which provides Security Resources Officers (SROs) to Memphis Shelby County Schools (MSCS) has reportedly warned it will step back from its duties unless Shelby County changes its overtime policies, with the company’s owner claiming in a letter that SROs in the school district have already been told not to provide security for upcoming football events.
Bennie Cobb, who owns the Eagle Eye Security and Training company which provides SROs for the district, reportedly confirmed a letter was sent to the MSCS Safety and Security division which urged 128 SROs “[n]ot to report for duty on Friday, August 16, 2014 – and not to participate in the [football] jamboree that following night and following day.”
The Memphis Shelby County Interscholastic Athletic Organization calendar reveals the MSCS High School Football Jamboree begins on Thursday and continues into Friday, with the MSCS Middle School Football Jamboree planned to take place Saturday.
In a post to the social media platform X last week, the group reminded the public of security precautions for the events, including a policy requiring bags containing personal effects be clear and subjected to checks by staff.
Additionally, attendees will not be allowed to bring outside food or drink, and will be barred from reentry after leaving the events’ premises.
Sporting events will be back starting next week! Make sure you know the Clear Bag Policy will be in effect for all events. #beprepared #actlikeyouknow pic.twitter.com/AthuumobTh
— MSCIAA Athletics (@MSCIAAfever) August 7, 2024
According to Fox 13, the high school athletic events “have led to violence in the past,” with gunshots fired outside one high school in 2023 leading to criminal charges against an adult and three minors.
Cobb confirmed the letter’s authenticity in remarks to ABC24 on Sunday, stating, “You have not only the football games that are coming up, but you have kids going to these schools, and short of an SRO being there, there’s no telling what can happen.”
He told the news outlet, “We know that law enforcement cannot cover all these schools.”
The outlet summarized the SROs demands as “officer safety, pay raises, higher recruitment, and to revise policy violations.”
Shelby County Board of Education Chair Althea Greene told ABC 24 the officers’ demands related to overtime pay are reasonable.
“We need to respectfully, if there are things that they have asked for, if there’s pay that they were supposed to get, then we need to honor those commitments,” she told the outlet.
Voters in other parts of the state have almost universally supported SROs, including in Nashville’s, where one 2018 poll showed 90 percent of voters were in favor of having such an officer in every school in the state.
Additionally, state grant program approved earlier this year provides eligible law enforcement officers who serve as SROs an $800 retention bonus.
Tennessee fell victim to a mass shooting in 2023, when Audrey Elizabeth Hale claimed the lives of three 9-year-old teachers and three adult staff members at the Covenant School in Nashville.
Earlier this year, The Tennessee Star obtained a number of police documents and approximately 80 pages of Hale’s writings from a source familiar with the investigation, and has since published more than 100 articles that include the killer’s own words or provide new details about the Covenant case.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Security Guard” by Obi – @pixel8propix.
