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New school police officers start their patrols on Aug. 6

Police department still working on assignments

By Wesley LeBlanc Staff Writer
Posted 6/26/19

CLAY COUNTY — As the 2019-20 school year fast approaches, Clay County School District Police Department officers still haven’t yet been assigned to their schools.

Teachers report to school on …

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New school police officers start their patrols on Aug. 6

Police department still working on assignments


Posted

CLAY COUNTY — As the 2019-20 school year fast approaches, Clay County School District Police Department officers still haven’t yet been assigned to their schools.

Teachers report to school on Aug. 6 and students return a week later. School officers also will start their watches on Aug. 6 as teachers return to decorate their classrooms and make final lesson plan preparations.

“On Aug. 6, all resource offices will be assigned to their respective schools,” Superintendent Addison Davis said. “Over the next few weeks, Chief [Kenneth] Wagner and his staff will be working with our newly formed police department to better understand each employee’s personality and professional demeanor.”

Wagner will measure each hired officer’s individual skill sets, review their law enforcement experience and work to better understand their mentality to help determine which school level each officer would best serve. Davis said the information Wagner has collected will be triangulated with the overarching needs of each school’s community.

Where the officer lives and other factors like that will come into play, but according to Davis, the district is more focused on finding the right person for each school.

“We’re working through the process of getting to understand who they are, looking at geographically, where they live, but more important than all of that, we’re looking at finding the best match,” Davis said.

Each new officer will be accessible to both parents and students.

“All stakeholders will be introduced to their school resource officer during Open House,” Davis said.

The school district police department is made up of 47 officers. All officers will be officially sworn in on Aug. 1 during the regular school board meeting. The average experience 20 years, with a range of police experience from 12 years to 28 years, the school board said.