Penn Hills School Board approves chief for new school police force
PENN HILLS, Pa. (KDKA) — The Penn Hills School Board approved its first-ever school police chief, who will form a force for the district.
On Wednesday, the district hired Keith Lazaron. He has 21 years of law enforcement experience and currently works as a school resource officer for Manor Township. Before that, he worked for Fawn Township police, the VA and the military police.
"We had five candidates that we interviewed," school board president Erin Vecchio said. "He shined among every one of them because of the fact he was all about kids. He's a school resource officer, he already had those qualifications. Plus, he can write grants."
Lazaron signed a five-year contract and starts Nov. 7. He said it will take about six months to get a school police force up and running. He hopes to hire a sergeant and at least four officers. They will have full police powers on school property, meaning they can make arrests, investigate and carry guns.
He says his overall vision is community policing.
"The vision is to work closely and collaborate with the kids, the staff, visitors to give them a good, warm feeling that they have an in-house police department and they can rely on an in-house police department," Lazaron said.
"He understands our mindset," said Nancy Hines, superintendent of Penn Hills School District. "We are all about a community policing model. We don't want hands-on or verbal escalation, hands-on only as a last resort. And he made that very clear in his interviews with us."
Hines said the new school police force wasn't added for a specific reason. She said the officers will be an added layer of security to the district and will close any coverage gaps. The district plans to keep using off-duty Penn Hills police officers and other unarmed security officers.
Vecchio said the goal is to add two armed officers to each school and guarded booths at campus entrances.
Penn Hills received a $323,000 state grant to start its school police force. The plan is to keep applying for more grants in the future.