ORANGE : District Opts Out of Pact for Officer

The Orange Unified School District has opted out of an agreement with the Police Department to help pay for a county probation officer who specializes in gang suppression.

Since last October, the two organizations had split the $60,000 annual cost.

The officer, Bob Stockbridge, works with students and others in the community who are on probation for gang-related crimes.

“He is invaluable,” Police Chief John R. Robertson said. “He’s good at cutting red tape at the county. There is tremendous bureaucracy in government, especially when it comes to juveniles.”

But school district officials, citing budgetary concerns, said they would prefer in the future to spend their limited resources on police officers who serve all the students, not just those on probation.

“His services, while wonderful, didn’t really meet the needs of our larger population,” said Orange Unified Assistant Supt. Gretchen Hanson. “We really needed someone who could serve a wide variety of students.”

Hanson said the Orange County probation officer worked with about eight students who attended school in the district.

The Police Department and school district are now discussing plans to place at least two police officers on the campuses of Orange and El Modena high schools on a full-time basis.

But the Police Department does not want to give up the county gang-prevention officer and, so far, has come up with the money necessary to fund him through the end of the year.

“I have no idea what we will do after Dec. 31,” Robertson said.