The Richmond County Board of Education says it's planning to improve its law enforcement presence in schools by hiring a new brand of police officer.

Officials say they hope the new position -- billed as a campus safety officer -- will curtail incidents involving students before they lead to suspension or arrest, said Julia Porter-Stein, the director of public safety.

"Hopefully they can contain them and it won't escalate into a more serious situation where there could be a complication with another student," Ms. Porter-Stein said.

The position was approved by the school board in February. Since then, investigators from the Richmond County Sheriff's Office have arrested 15 students in connection to an April 3 fight at the Academy of Richmond County involving hundreds of students. Last week, a raid by Board of Education officers and the sheriff's Gang Task Force led to the suspension of more than 30 Cross Creek High School students.

Unlike the school system's 28 public safety officers, campus safety officers will lack the certification to make arrests, Ms. Porter-Stein said.

However, the hope is they will be able to intervene in fights and detain students for the principal or public safety officers, who are already assigned to all Richmond County middle and high schools. They will also be tasked with acting as peer mediators in an attempt to calm problems between students before they escalate.

"With that in place, it may be able to help minimize potential fights," she said.

The campus safety officers will also be paid less than regular officers, making them a less costly alternative to hiring fully certified public safety officials.

Laura Reilly, the director of communications for the Georgia School Board Association, said she was not aware of any other school systems which employ a similar type of officer. However, she said many systems rely on different methods.

"Balancing the limited funding resources with the need and desire to increase safety and security is a real issue for just about any board of education in the state," Ms. Reilly stated in an e-mail.

Neither Columbia County nor Aiken County school systems have plans to adopt a similar type of program, school officials said.

Ms. Porter-Stein said she is in the process of interviewing candidates for five campus safety positions.

Reach Adam Folk at (706) 823-3339 or adam.folk@augustachronicle.com.