JCPS school resource officers provide insight on active shooter situations

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - Parkland was named Florida's safest city in 2017. Now it's known as the city where the latest school massacre took place.

The school district has one to two armed School Resource Officers on each campus, but they were not able to stop the Valentine's Day shooting where 17 students were killed.

With active shooter drills, security measures and School Resource Officers on hand, Broward County school officials thought they couldn't be any more prepared for what happened Wednesday, until they weren't.

How do you prepare for an expelled student who knows the school and where the fire alarm is, armed with an AR-15 and a gas mask? SROs for Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville can't answer that question; they can only keep working.

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"With us, we start to look at each other and look at some things that we might even need to do a little different, " Sergeant Vernon Brown, SRO Supervisor for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, said.

JCSO has been recognized nationally as a model for School Resource Officers. They provide nine SROs at JCPS schools. Louisville Metro Police provide 17, and Jeffersontown Police provide one officer. St. Matthews police told WAVE 3 News they also have one.

Recent criticism of SROs followed an incident caught on camera at Jeffersontown High where two students were arrested. While that did not involve the Sheriff's Office, they believe having an armed and trained SRO can stop a shooter in the right situation.

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SROs also know the school layout to help outside law enforcement get to a shooter, and they can also aid victims and help survivors get to safety. But what's more important than being reactive? Major Mike Littlefield said it's being proactive daily.

"The more friends we have doing our job it's more eyes and ears out there to help us do our job." Brown said. "We build relationships not just with the students and the staff, but we build relationships with parents and we have parents who call us if they have a hint of a situation that might be occurring and heading to our school."

SROs said having more people trained to help monitor doors in schools would be another positive step. Meanwhile, the Louisville group Louisville Showing Up for Racial Justice, whose members are critical of SROs, said they believe yesterday's shooting is proof that SROs are not providing safety.

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