Veteran cop named new school officer

Grafton Police Officer Tony Alfonsi is the new Grafton School District resource officer.

Alfonsi has been with the Grafton Police Department for 14 years and began working with the district on Monday.

“We are happy to have him join our team, and we look forward to him creating positive relationships across our student body,” Supt. Jeff Nelson said during Monday’s School Board meeting.

Alfonsi will be stationed primarily at the high school and will visit each of the district’s schools every week to provide presentations and meet with students.

District and Grafton Police Department officials interviewed two candidates for the job earlier this month.

“We really appreciate the energy he brings, and we feel he has the talent to work with kids and our young adults,” Nelson said of Alfonsi. “He has a great demeanor and comes across as a person who has a lot of integrity.”

During a December Village Board meeting, trustees unanimously approved an intergovernmental agreement with the district that will reimburse the village for half of the time the officer is working in Grafton schools.

Officials said a resource officer typically spends 1,512 hours per year at Grafton schools, with most of that time at Grafton High School. About 69% of the officer’s total time on duty is spent at the schools, so the district agreed to pay 50% of the officer’s salary and benefits during that time.

The district has not had a dedicated resource officer for the last year since Dan Radtke retired.

Grafton Police Chief Jeff Caponera said the program is an effective way to develop positive relationships between the police and young people and help prevent delinquency and alcohol and substance abuse.

“If you watched the news in the last year, there is so much going on in this world from a law enforcement and school resource officer standpoint,” Alfonsi told the board. “(The support for the position) is very heartwarming as an officer. I’m not going to be roaming the halls looking for infractions. I’m looking to help these kids.”