One of the benefits of living in a small town is that everyone knows everyone else, said Dennis Messett, elementary principal for West Middlesex Area schools.

"I like the small town atmosphere, where the kids know the policemen, know the firemen, know who the mayor is," he said.

If the state comes through with a grant, West Middlesex students will get to know a policeman a lot better.

The district has applied to the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency for a four-year, $260,000 anti-bullying grant, which would pay to have a policeman in the school all day, said Messett, who wrote the grant.

Funding would come from the Research-Based Delinquency and Violence Prevention Program, which also seeks to prevent substance abuse, teen pregnancy and dropping out of school.

Messett said the district has cobbled together its own anti-bullying program through the guidance office, but thinks having a policeman involved in the effort would help get the message across.

The policeman would socialize with students outside of the classroom and be available for counseling.

The district is not responding to any increase in school violence, but Superintendent Albert Jones acknowledged, 'We're not immune to the rest of society's problems."

"Our kids are pretty good and we want to keep them that way, and make them better," Messett said. "We have a pretty good thing going, let's try to make it better over the next four years."

The district is high on prevention programs

"I know it's not fashionable to get anything until the wheel squeaks," Messett said. "I think it will have a preventive effect not only on what happens at school, but what happens after school."

"Some kids need all the help they can get," Jones said.

The district tried to get a policeman through a different route last year, when it applied to PCCD for a grant to expand the Drug Abuse Resistance Education. The state denied the grant.

The district has had a small DARE grant for four years, which has paid to bring Southwest Mercer County Regional police Sgt. Riley Smoot into the school once a week to work with sixth-graders.

The community has responded with "good vibes" to Smoot's work with students, Jones said.

Smoot has a "great rapport" with the students, Messett said, but acknowledged, "They won't give us Riley," referring to Smoot's full-time position with Farrell schools as conflict specialist and DARE officer.

Other Southwest policemen who have been in the school also have got along well with students, Messett said.

The grant is aimed at grades kindergarten through six, but "the relationship he establishes will carry over to the high school," Messett said.

Southwest's police commission has agreed to write a letter of support backing the grant, and borough Mayor David George said he would ask borough council to do the same.

The grant is highly competitive, and only $3.1 million is available statewide. The state anticipates awarding only 25 to 50 grants.

The district would have to pay 25 percent of the program budget in the third year and half in the fourth.