Information from WYSH Radio
In the wake of last week’s deadly school shootings in Connecticut, many people in the area have wondered what is being done to keep their children safe at school.
WYSH asked Clinton Police Chief Rick Scarbrough how often officers conduct walk-throughs at the city’s three elementary schools. Scarbrough said every school in the city, including the three county schools within the city limits, are visited by officers two to three times per day in unscheduled, random, drop-in visits.
Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Mark Lucas said there are eight full-time school resource officers, or SROs, who rotate between the county’s 17 schools. That number includes SROs who are assigned to just one school, namely the two county high schools.
There is also a full-time DARE officer who visits all the schools on a regular basis throughout the school year.
After last week’s shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., there has been a more visible law enforcement presence around county schools.
On Monday, Lucas said, deputies conducted 82 walk-throughs of the county schools. Fifty-eight of those were by SROs and 24 by patrol deputies.
On Tuesday, 84 walk-throughs were conducted—16 by patrol deputies and 68 by the SROs. Those numbers do not include the checks conducted by the police departments in the municipalities that have county schools within their city limits.
Both departments have contingency plans and have trained for active shooter scenarios and the Sheriff’s Department has recently—even before last week’s tragedy in Newtown—revised its emergency response plans.
This story brought to you through an agreement between Oak Ridge Today and WYSH. See more local news headlines on the WYSH website athttp://www.wyshradio.com/local_news.html.
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