Putnam SROs Tactical Training Just One Facet Of School Safety

Putnam County School Resource Officers underwent training over fall break to ensure their skills are up to date when it comes to protecting the county’s students, faculty and staff.

Sheriff Eddie Farris said that the system’s 21 SROs are always preparing for emergency situations, including last week’s tactical training. He said the SROs can never be too prepared.

“You know we take the SRO program, our deputy in every school, we certainly take that very seriously,” Farris said. “And our number one goal there is to keep that environment safe.”

Farris said that the yearly training consists of identifying new threats and trends, de-escalation, room clearing, first aid, and much more. He said that in addition to mandated training, many deputies will do additional training on their own time.

Farris said that the role of an SRO is to both protect the system’s 12,000 students, as well as foster a positive relationship with them.

“We feel that builds the relationship of law enforcement, it sets that tone hopefully forever in that student’s life,” Farris said. “From there on, earning the trust and being able to talk and have faith and trust in the relationship between the deputies and the students. We certainly want to do that.”

Farris said that since he became chief, they’ve been able to station an SRO at every school in the county, including two at the Cookeville High School as the county’s biggest school. He said that was also in part by the county commission who approved the hires to make that possible.