Jefferson County Study Details Effectiveness Of SRO Program

BIRMINGHAM, AL - Sheriff Mark Pettway is crediting his deputies and school resource officers for keeping Jefferson County schools safe in 2018 and 2019, as he released stats from a report on the School Resource Division of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office this week.

SROs work to prevent violence in schools, to investigate and prosecute anyone who engages in crimes on school campuses. SROs are certified through the National Association of School Resource Officers at both the Basic and Advanced SRO certification levels.

The report reveals that SROs finished the year making 76 felony arrests, which included 17 terrorist threat investigations, 454 misdemeanor arrests, 83 traffic citations and 2,009 traffic warnings.

The SROs closed 1,551 cases last school year. The SROs go through extensive training, including Active Shooter training, “Too Good for Drugs” and “Gang Resistance Education Training” to learn how to deal with and protect our school children. This year alone they logged more than 3,878 hours of training.

“The fine work by our School Resources Division is why we need officers in our schools,” said Sheriff Mark Pettway. “Having our deputies onsite during school hours and at events, helps us keep the citizens of Jefferson County safe and with our eyes and ears we thwart any potential threat to our children including any potential terrorist activity.”