LOXLEY – Nearly 100 school resource officers (SROs) trained this week in Baldwin County, preparing for the upcoming school year.
Multiple agencies, including the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office, Mobile County Sheriff's Office, and police from Bay Minette, Daphne, Elberta, Fairhope, Foley, Orange Beach and others gathered at Baldwin Preparatory Academy.
Baldwin County Sheriff Anthony Lowery said the sheriff's office covers 12 schools, including the alternative school and Baldwin Prep. The SRO division was established several years ago to ensure each school had an SRO. The county commission and the school board partnered to make the SRO division a reality. Some municipalities within the county also offer SROs in schools.
"I mean, it's a complete division and you know, our school resource squad is as big as any patrol squad or any other squad that we have," Lowery said.
Baldwin County Sheriff's Office Lt. Matt Morrison is in charge of the civil programs division, which includes SROs. He said the training is an example of how the sheriff's office is being progressive and proactive.
"When you look over many years past and all of the school shootings, being a school resource officer has become very relevant in what law enforcement does," Morrison told 1819 News.
Morrison said it is important to train so officers stay well-versed and maintain their skills.
"Complacency can be an issue in this division because you are dealing with kids," he explained. "So, we have to keep that edge sharp, which gets encompassed through this training. That's why we are doing this right before school starts, so it will be fresh on their minds going into the school year."
The participants learned about new case laws involving schools, participated in tactics training and went over advanced life-saving techniques. Morrison said those skills are important because the SROs are already on the scene and during dangerous situations, paramedics must wait until a scene is cleared before entering.
Lowery said SROs are part of daily operations in schools, ensuring campus safety.
"They keep things in control in and around the school itself – on the campus and obviously, they prevent any type of outside person from coming in and causing any harm to students or faculty or anyone for that matter," Lowery added. "It's a big deal to the parents to know when their kids go to school that there's someone there protecting them, keeping them safe and having not just a security guard, but school resource officers are so much more than a security guard. This day and age, they're trained in tactical medical, mental health and all those things."
The training offered each officer the chance to go over scenarios and individual, extensive training directly related to being an SRO.
Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch said the county has 12 school resource officers. Seven of those were able to participate in the training. He said the Mobile County program was one he wanted to put in place well before he became sheriff. However, he said there is still more room to grow. He hopes municipalities will offer SROs for schools as they do in Baldwin County.
"It's a necessity in this day and time, so I'm all about training, and I want them to have the best training because they're our first line of defense for the children and staff at our schools," Burch said. "There are 12 high schools in Mobile County, the deputies are assigned to each one of those high schools and then they rotate through the feeder schools."
Burch said he hopes one day every school in Mobile County will have an SRO.
School resource officers are carefully selected. They are experienced, outgoing and are able to connect with both students and teachers.
"Building that relationship, which is kind of like a student and a coach, is a relationship that could last a lifetime," Lowery explained. "Certainly, they build trust with each other, which is a huge deal. But again, it gives the student someone to look to when they're in trouble and if they need something or if they see something, that person's always there."
The SROs are both nationally certified with NASRO (National Association of School Resource Officers) and state certified with TAASRO (The Alabama Association of School Resource Officers).
Lowery said the county takes great pride in the SRO program and the officers involved.
"They work closely with the principal and the administrative staff at each school and each day is a little different, depending on the needs of the school," said Lowery. "That even varies inside the school, with what they're doing, with what grade they're handling, whether it's elementary or middle school and certainly the high school SROs are tasked with other, different responsibilities."
Baldwin County is in the process of updating an app that will allow parents to directly communicate with SROs, further enhancing safety and communication.
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