They work with teachers, students and staff to keep schools safe.
Frederick, Md (KM) It won’t be just the students, teachers and administrators that are going back to school in Frederick County on Wednesday, August 20th; it’s also the School Resource Officers. They are often Frederick County Sheriff’s Deputies who work inside the schools to keep students, teachers, visitors and staff safe.
During a recent appearance on WFMD”s “Morning News Express,” Sheriff Chuck Jenkins said these deputies want to be school resource officers. “Everybody in there has requested the detail, the assignment.. They’re interested. They like kids They like the school environment. They want to be there as mentors. They want do all they can to help the kids in school. A lot of them coach sports after school hours. A lot of them do a lot more with the students than people know,” he says.
He also says these SRO’s work well with school administrators. “I have taken SRO’s who have extremely, extremely good relationships with the principals. And they will stay with that principal even when the principal is moved to another school, they will go with them,” says Jenkins. “That’s like the right arm.”
As for the safety of the schools themselves, the Sheriff says they’re as safe as humanly possible. “The schools are doing all they can. It does take a lot of money. It takes time. But I think we’re where we need to be,” he says. “But, again, I want you to understand. that no school is fool proof because you have staff, you have students, you have janitorial staff who go in and out of doors. They leave doors propped open. That’s always a concern.”
On the topic of whether local schools are prepared in case of a mass shooting, Sheriff Jenkins says local administrators have been trained on what to do in case of an active shooter or another emergency. “We have basically trained most of the educators and all of the school administrators in the county in an active assailant situation: how to respond, what to do and how to protect the students and yourself,” he says. “We done that over the years. We’re where we need to be in that regard. So I feel really good about school safety in the county.”
The Sheriff was mostly talking about public schools, but he has a concern about private schools. “Private schools, religious based schools are a concern because they don’t have security, and they probably could be the most likely targets,” Jenkins says.
By Kevin McManus