LEON COUNTY, FLa. — Leon County School Resource Deputies are going over final plans before the start of the school year on Wednesday, saying safety and communication are the two focal points for headed into this school year.
Captain of Youth and Young Adult Services Bobby Green said SRD's monitor safety is around their campus everyday.
"Pretty much that school is like a small community, so they monitor their school. They make contact with students, they get with administration about any issues from the prior day," said Green.
The SRD's have been participating in training's over the summer to prepare for the upcoming school year, their most recent training being the reunification training in the event of an active shooter situation.
However, Deputy Paul Emmons says they want to make sure a situation never escalates to that scope. "If we can help somebody out that's having an episode, a mental episode, or just an episode in general, we want to be able to deescalate the situation," said Emmons.
Green says the SRD's on campus not only ensure safety, but are also there to help the students. "We're not there just to make arrests. We're there to provide any type of services that these students might need, whether it's talking through counseling, talk about sports, whatever it might be," said Green.
Emmons says SRD's are a better help if they get to know the students better. "You can see those kids, it's like your own kids. You can tell when your own kid is having a bad day out of the blue so I mean it's just being able to have that rapport and being able to talk to the kids," said Emmons.
Green encourages students and parents to meet their school's SRD during the first week of school.
One School resource officer will be stationed in every Leon County High school and middle schools, and one at 4 elementary schools.
