School Safety Officers Need Community Support

  

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From Texas to New York and across the entire nation, the situation is the same.  State budget cuts are forcing administrators to reconsider the so-called "luxury" of full-time school safety officers while many parents are protesting the proposed changes.

In Philidelphia, more than a quarter of the school district's police force are reportedly on the chopping block.  Some say this will exacerbate already unsafe conditions, and a recent tv series on violence in city schools showed just how troubled the climate is at many schools, already.

In New York's Troy City School District, the local police chief is considering reassigning some officers back into the community, but parents say having police patrol the neighborhood just isn't the same.

And when you think about it, it's true.  After all, an officer who works full-time inside a school gets to know students personally.  Instead of reacting to trouble, these officers are often able to identify and control problems before they start.

Just consider School Resource Officer Carolyn Gudger and her confrontation last August with a gunman in a corridor of Sullivan Central High in Tennessee.

As a dedicated officer assigned to the high school, Gudger noticed a man loitering in the parking lot, and when she approached him, he drove away.  Later, the same man entered the lobby of the school, and asked to speak with the principal. Gudger accompanied them.

The man pulled a handgun from his waistband, pointed it at the principal's head, and said he had some unspecified complaint with the government. Gudger drew her weapon, and got the principal out of harm's way.  A standoff ensued, the 1,200-student school went on lockdown, and Gudger held her own until reinforcements arrived. 

Gudger, 58, was honored Monday as the 2011 Law Enforcement Officer of the Year during a ceremony at the American Police Hall of Fame & Museum in Florida.

Gudger is a 15-year veteran of the Sullivan County Sheriff's Office in Tennessee (including nine years as a school resource officer), and she's a finalist for the "America's Most Wanted" All-Star Award.

Gudger is just one of thousands of dedicated law enforcement and school safety personnel that are making a difference in our schools each and every day.

Ask your kids about their own experiences with their school safety and resource officers.  Tell your principal and school board officials what kind of difference they're making in your kids' schools.  They need community support now, more than ever! 

John Snyder of Titusville presents U.S. Officer of the Year Carolyn Gudger, a school resource officer in the Sullivan County Sheriff's Office in Blountville, Tenn., with the St. Gabriel Possenti Society Merit Medallion during a ceremony at the American Police Hall of Fame & Museum in Titusville. / Craig Rubadoux, FLORIDA TODAY