With a slew of school shootings in recent memory, Athens County Sheriff Pat Kelly announced Monday that his deputies will begin doing random “walkthroughs” at Athens County schools outside the city limits.
At unannounced times of the day, a deputy from the Sheriff’s Office will randomly monitor the halls of elementary, middle and high schools in Athens County.
Athens City School District superintendent Carl Martin said he was pleased with Kelly’s idea because having a presence in local schools is important.
“I don’t have any problems with it,” Martin said. “The deputies are always out on patrol and we see them on occasion, but it’s good for them to have a presence around the school every now and then.”
The walkthroughs will not include schools located in the city of Athens because Athens Police already have a system for those schools, Kelly said, adding that any law enforcement presence is a good one.
“Any … deterrent that would keep people from harming our children is a good thing,” Kelly said. “Nobody’s really going to know when our people are there or not.”
Kelly said he would prefer to have a deputy — or school resource officer — at the schools at all times, but added that this is the best he can do at this point.
“I had to figure out a way to have a presence and this is the best method I can come up with,” he said.
In August, Kelly came up with the idea of implementing a school resource officer position that would continually have a deputy in county schools, but Athens County Commissioner Charlie Adkins was against the program.
In an Aug. 12 letter to Kelly, Adkins said that with five school districts in Athens County, the cost would be too high for county taxpayers.
“The most effective way I see for Nelsonville York’s School system to have a resource officer would be for them to employ this officer, not your office, but with you giving the officer their commission,” Adkins said in the letter. “This would include the school district being responsible for coverage of workers compensation and future liabilities.”
Kelly said having deputy walkthroughs is an attractive option because it doesn’t cost his office anything, adding: “no one can stop me from doing this.”
Kelly’s decision to implement the new program came the same day as the middle school shooting in Sparks, Nev.
“I’ve thought about doing (this program) for a long time,” Kelly said. “I like seeing my guys out in public and stopping into businesses and schools to say hi and talking with people. That’s absolutely important.”
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