They may be wearing different uniforms, but their mission will be the same – protecting students and school employees.
The responsibility for providing school resource officers in the county’s public schools was officially transferred from the Henry County Sheriff’s Office to the Henry County Police Department. Action was taken July 19 at a regular Board of Commissioners meeting and then two days later at a special called Board of Education meeting.

A new memorandum of understanding was formally adopted after the school board received official notice in June that the HCSO was terminating their previous agreement. The letter from Sheriff Reginald Scandrett’s office stated that his department could no longer operate the program, “noting their constitutional obligations to their main charge as a law enforcement agency,” according to a statement from the school district. Multiple sources around the county translated that statement to mean that the HCSO has lost a number of employees in recent months and is too understaffed to continue SRO duties.

Once a decision was made on the transition, HCPD officials began immediately preparing for the start of classes for the new school year, which begins August 3.

“I cannot overstress the importance of and what a key component our school resource officers are in the overall safety of our schools and our community,” said district superintendent Mary Elizabeth Davis. “We have always valued the relationship with the sheriff’s office to provide our schools with resource officers, and we are appreciative of them for working with us to find solutions to our need to increase officer numbers across our district. In the end, a viable solution could not be found, and we accepted their notice of termination. Safety is paramount in schools, and our board members are very much committed to investing in expanding the number of school resource officers.”

The HCPD actually provided this service in the past, and county officials are confident that the department can return to this role quickly and efficiently.

“We have always had a great relationship working with the schools, and we will make sure the professionals assuming these school resource officer roles will be of the highest caliber and held to the highest standards,” said chief Mark Amerman. “And the Henry County community can trust that we will do everything we can to ensure everyone’s safety day in and day out.”