School safety isn’t just a priority. It’s a promise.

As a candidate for Sheriff, I recognize that our schools are not just buildings, they are communities, full of future leaders, students, educators, and families. Protecting them means more than just putting a badge at the door. It means training, empowering, and building relationships that prevent tragedy before it strikes, and give students a better path forward.

Equipping School Resource Officers with Excellence

Our School Resource Officers (SROs) are on the front lines of school safety. They don’t just respond to emergencies, they build trust, defuse situations, and mentor students.

I will ensure our SROs receive advanced, ongoing training in:

• Active threat response and school-specific tactical scenarios
• Youth mental health awareness and intervention
• Trauma-informed policing and conflict resolution
• Building relationships with students, staff, and families

Because when the unthinkable happens, preparation is everything.

Schools as Mini-Communities: Extending Community Policing Principles

Every school served by an SRO is a community in itself. That means we must take the proven principles of Community Oriented Policing (COPS) and bring them into our schools.

Through partnership between COPS Unit members and SROs, we will:

• Host in-school presentations on decision-making, peer pressure, and life skills
• Build early intervention and mentorship programs
• Lead outreach initiatives that connect students with deputies as role models, not enforcers

By building trust early, we help shape safer futures, and better citizens.

Early Engagement, Lifelong Impact: Deputies as Educators and Mentors

Law enforcement presence in schools should be more than just about safety, it should be about connection, education, and positive influence.

When deputies step into the classroom as educators, they create opportunities to:

• Build trust between youth and law enforcement through regular, positive interaction
• Teach critical life skills like decision-making, conflict resolution, and understanding the law
• Address risky behaviors early, before they lead to poor choices or criminal consequences
• Model respect, leadership, and responsibility, showing students the value of accountability
• Foster long-term behavioral change that leads to safer schools and stronger communities

As Sheriff, I believe our role in schools goes beyond enforcement. Deputies in classrooms can plant seeds of respect, resilience, and responsibility that reduce crime long before it starts.

This is about prevention through presence, and education through example.

A Vision for Safer, Stronger Schools

School safety isn’t about fear, it’s about prevention, presence, and partnership.

This is not just about locking doors and patrolling hallways. It’s about:

• Deputies that are mentors, not monitors.
• Schools that are protected, not policed.
• Budgets that reflect shared responsibility for our children’s safety.

Closing Thought

The safety of our children is sacred. If we fail to protect them, nothing else we do matters.

Through responsible budgeting, strong training, and true community integration, we will redefine what school safety looks like in Spartanburg County. Not as a line item, but as a legacy.

Because every child deserves to feel safe. And every deputy deserves to be equipped to keep them safe.