Frederick County SROs want to be a presence, resource at schools

Aug. 11—Deputy First Class Amber Owens of the Frederick County Sheriff's Office bent over to speak with a group of small children dashing through Frederick High School on Tuesday. They laughed and ran around her legs during an event for the community to meet officers stationed in schools.

Owens, a school resource officer, said with a chuckle, "People need to get to know their SROs."

With the first day of school coming next week, SROs in Frederick County are ready to get back into schools and create a positive impact.

Owens, an SRO at Heather Ridge School in Frederick, said she loves what she does.

SROs are police officers and deputies who provide a presence in Frederick County schools. They patrol schools and act as a resource for the school's population.

The sheriff's office SRO program has been around since 2000, Scott Blundell, supervisor of security and emergency management for Frederick County Public Schools, said.

The Frederick Police Department's SRO program dates to 1995, according to the department.

Owens said she likes building trusted relationships with students. SROs want to help students when they need it, she said.

At her office in Oakdale High School, when she was assigned there, she had a rocking chair for students who needed a breather from the stress of life, she said.

"There's so many kids struggling with mental health crises that feel like they can't be heard without being judged, and some kids will just want us to sit and talk," she said.

Deputies are at almost every public high school in Frederick County, Lt. Jason Deater, commander of the SRO program at the sheriff's office, said. The exception is Brunswick, where the city's police department has its own SRO.

Deputies assigned to a high school also check in on related feeder elementary and middle schools, Deater said.

There's one SRO per high school, except for Tuscarora and Urbana, which have two each.

Frederick police have SROs in every public middle and elementary school in the city, said Officer James Clark. They are not in high schools.

They also have SROs in some charter schools, Maryland School for the Deaf and Frederick County's Career and Technology Center.

Blundell said SROs are a great support system in their schools.

"They're here to help the community, and we at FCPS certainly want them within our buildings," Blundell said.

Deater and other SROs emphasized that they try to be role models, a presence, and a trusted individual to students, parents and a school's staff.

Deputy First Class David Sowers, an SRO at Tuscarora High School, said it's a misconception that SROs are there to arrest and charge students. That's a last resort, he said.

"In this job, a lot of negatives and being able to get into a school and make a positive [impact] with our juveniles growing up can go a long ways," Sowers said.

While SROs have full policing powers, they are not responsible for disciplining, Deater said. That falls under the school's administration.

The best part about being an SRO for Clark is the small interactions with students at his four assigned schools throughout the day. He arm wrestles with them, checks up on them if they go to the nurse, and greets them as they get off school buses.

But SROs aren't just for safety of students, he said.

"We're there now for the school staff and the parents, so they can be comfortable with their children being in the school," Clark said.

Deater said police don't want students to come to school afraid of a shooting.

Police constantly train in the event a shooting happens, and have protocols to follow if there is an active shooter, he said.

Sgt. Kevin Britt from the sheriff's office said they've also been focusing more on school safety checks.

"We really make that push for all of our deputies, not just our SROs, to get out to those school and make a presence," he said.