Plum School District is expanding its police force by adding a longtime borough officer who retired last year.
The school board approved hiring Mike DeMarco, 51, of Monroeville. He will be paid $28 per hour.
His start date had not been determined as of Thursday.
His hiring increases the district’s police staff from six to seven, including Chief Tim Hanna. DeMarco is expected to work a later shift to provide coverage after school hours, and he will be available to fill in during the day should an officer be away, Hanna said.
Hanna, who was an officer for 25 years in his hometown of McKeesport, was hired when the school district established its own police department in 2018. Its officers have been armed since the start.
Because the district has five schools, the original plan was for the department to have one officer for each building plus a chief.
“One of the biggest barriers when you have an incident at any school is the response time. They’re over in just a few minutes,” Hanna said. “As good and as dedicated as local police departments are, we know they’re coming and they want to get here and do whatever it is they can do. But in a lot of circumstances the incident is over. With us being in the buildings, our response time is seconds instead of minutes.”
DeMarco was among five candidates considered. Hanna said he was impressive in three rounds of interviews.
“I’m very confident that he’s going to be a good fit, and I believe he’ll be an asset to the Plum Borough School District,” Hanna said.
An air traffic controller in the Marine Corps from 1990 to 1995, DeMarco is a native of Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield neighborhood. He started his police career in 2001, working part time in Edgewood and Swissvale.
Plum hired DeMarco in 2003, where he was a traffic safety officer for seven years until his retirement on June 30, 2023.
Borough police Chief Lanny Conley was DeMarco’s training officer when he was hired with the borough. He was sorry to see DeMarco go.
“I think Mike will excel,” Conley said. “Mike’s good with everybody in the public. He has a knack for being very pleasant with everyone. He does a great job and gets along with everyone.”
While working in the schools will be a little bit different than the borough, DeMarco is looking forward to continuing to serve and protect the Plum community.
“I’ve known the people in the borough for 21 years now. I’ve made a lot of good friendships and have a lot of good working relationships,” he said. “I believe I can do the same with the school district.”
