The proposed addition of five school resource officers in the Vicksburg Warren School District will bring the total employed by the district to eight.

SROs are certified law enforcement officers licensed to carry weapons on campus and empowered to make arrests. They are generally assigned to a particular school.

Currently, one SRO, De-wayne Sims, serves as head of security over the district. One SRO is assigned to Vicksburg High School and one to Warren Central High School.

A fourth SRO, whose salary is currently paid by a grant not by district operating funds, splits his time between the two junior high schools. That grant is expiring.

The proposal by Dr. Elizabeth Swinford, superintendent, to add five SROs, will provide a second officer at each high school, one at the Grove Street School and one at each junior high.

In addition, the district contracts with Baker Security System to provide security officers, who do not carry weapons and are not law enforcement officers, in parking lots and other school areas.