As of Monday morning, all DeKalb County schools have a School Resource Officer (SRO) on duty.
The four new officers have completed the required training and are posted at their respective schools.
According to Sheriff Patrick Ray, Officer Terry Cowart, Jr. is the new SRO at Smithville Elementary School.
Officer Roger Whitehead is stationed at Northside Elementary School.
Officer Chris McMillen is the new SRO at DeKalb Middle School.
Officer Louis Carrick is at DeKalb West School, while Officer Kenneth Whitehead remains at DeKalb County High School
“The new SRO's just completed a 40-hour intense School Resource Officer Training Seminar in Williamson County,” the Sheriff said.
“They graduated last Friday, and started Monday morning at the schools to which they were assigned.”
Ray said he and the officers met with faculty members before their first day of work, and he has weekly meetings planned with the officers.
“Each school resource officer and I met with their principal, some of the teachers, and some of the students,” Ray said.
“We were made to feel very welcome in each and every school. I plan to meet with the SRO's every week to discuss what is going on at each school to keep me up to date. That way I can pass information on to the deputies and detectives or back to the SRO's if I need to.”
Ray said the School Resource Officers role will be more complicated than simply guarding the school from intruders.
“The main goal of the school resource officer is to prevent juvenile delinquency.,” he said.
“He does that by promoting positive relations between youth and law enforcement.”
“These five school resource officers are not just cops on the school campus. These school resource officers provide law enforcement duties but they also provide education and counseling,” said the sheriff.
“They educate the students by teaching law-related classes and other subjects in the classroom, and they also counsel both the students and the parents on various topics.
“The SRO's main objective is to be a positive role model in the life of a student. It's intended for the school resource officer program to bridge a gap between juveniles and law enforcement. By doing this, it is to help prevent juvenile crime,” Ray said.
“I would like to thank County Mayor Mike Foster, the county commission, Director of Schools Mark Willoughby, and the DeKalb County Board of Education for allowing funding for the extra four school resource officers this year,” the sheriff said.
“We have a total of five schools in DeKalb County, and now all five have an SRO assigned to them,” said Sheriff Ray.
According to the recently passed county budget, two of the officers are funded from the county general budget, and two from the school system’s budget.