Police and School District Release Statement on South Medford High SRO Reassignment

The Medford Police Department and Medford School District have released a joint statement regarding the community’s continued questions about the reassignment of a South Medford High School Resource Officer.

Here is the statement in its entirety:

We continue to be aware of Facebook rumors circulating about the transfer of Officer Josh Doney from the School Resource Officer (SRO) position at South back to patrol. A new SRO has been assigned for South and will be announced soon. Officer Doney’s reassignment to Patrol was not disciplinary. We want to reiterate it is common for officers to be reassigned to different areas within the department.

The rumors that Officer Doney was transferred from SRO back to patrol because he voiced safety concerns that the district and the police department did not want to address are not true. Contrary to false allegations circulating on social media, the Medford Police Department and the Medford School District are leaders in responding to potential threats to students and staff.

It takes a community to keep our students safe and there is nothing that matters more to us. MPD and MSD have the longest standing SRO program in the State of Oregon, and conducted the largest community emergency response exercise in state history last summer. We also recently expanded the program to include several school marshals shared between our MSD elementary schools. The Medford Police Department and the Medford School District make every decision based first and foremost on the safety and security of students and staff and our community.

Allowing false rumors to spread undermines the positive safety impact that the School Resource Officer and School Marshals programs have in our community.

Thank you for supporting the Medford Police and Medford School District as we continue to do everything we can to keep our community safe.

Here is the link to our original article regarding the ongoing story.