By Staff
Resource officers positive for schools
The middle schools in the Escambia County School System should be safer, and their students will have an opportunity to get to know law enforcement officers on a personal basis beginning next year.
Sheriff Grover Smith has worked with three private trusts, the Escambia County Commission and the Escambia County Board of Education to raise the money needed to put resource officers in the county's middle schools.
Smith said the officers will be placed primarily at W.S. Neal Middle School, Escambia County Middle School in Atmore, and Flomaton Middle School. Additionally, the officers will rotate visiting middle school classes at McCall and Huxford schools. In addition, the D.A.R.E. (Drug and Alcohol Resistance Education) program will be implemented in the fifth grades of each school.
This program will no doubt yield positive benefits in each of the schools. Experts agree that by the time students reach high school, it is often too late to discourage them from using illegal substances.
We salute both Sheriff Smith and those who've opened their purses to help fund this program.