SROs To Be Placed In Every Putnam County School

Every school in Putnam County will have a school resource officer this year.

The Putnam County Commission voted Monday to fund SROs for the five elementary schools that previously lacked a full-time officer.

Sheriff Eddie Farris said officers should begin working within the next few months.

“We’ve been interviewing the last few weeks for school resource officers and new deputies,” Farris said. “We weren’t sure how many, or if any that we would get approved tonight, but we are ahead of the game. We suspect it will take us a few weeks to get those hired and in place, but we are more ahead than if we had not been interviewing.”

Farris said selecting the officers won’t be easy as it takes a special person to serve as an SRO in Putnam County.

“We’ve got some real good prospects. Not only do we put deputies in the schools, but here in Putnam County we have a higher expectation and we hold them to a higher level,” Farris said. “It takes a special person to be an SRO for us, so in other words, we want to take our time and make sure we get the right ones to go in these schools.”

Farris said he’s hoping to have the new officers processed and in the schools by fall break. The Sheriff’s Office will utilize 20 total SRO’s for the 2019-2020 school year.