School is a place for learning, growing and building relationships for future generations. That’s why it’s one of the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department top priorities to ensure the safety of the students, teachers and staff members in each and every school.
Incidents require effective response plans, training and the ability to quickly communicate during a crisis. School Resource Officer Reggie Lighty and Senior Investigator Cameron Sherban have worked hand in hand to help keep the schools of Lexington County safe.
What’s the process when a school threat is made?
Communication and active response plans play an important role when a potential violent act is at play. Threats can come through in many different forms: via social media, directly to the school or a person at the school.
The first step in taking action is for the SRO to determine the nature of the threat. Then, the command staff is brought in to help assist, along with the school district security and school administrators. Once the situation is established, Major Crimes is brought in to help identify the suspect while helping to collaborate on a plan to enact the appropriate policy to ensure everyone’s safety.
How does the major crimes unit and SROs work together to investigate the threats?
There are two important roles SROs and Major Crimes play that are crucial to the development of the investigation.
SROs are an important resource to have as they know their students better than most since they are there with them everyday. Their ability to act as a liaison with the students can help determine where the threat originated. Major Crimes then steps in to help generate intel on potential leads that help identify the suspect.
If there is one thing you want the community to know about school threats, what would it be?
The most important thing for the community to know is each and every threat made is taken very seriously.
“Some come in a little more vague than others, but we take every single threat seriously and we investigate them all,” Lighty said.
The safety of the students and staff is a top priority.
“We want to make sure our kids can go to school and learn without any threats or fears so that they can grow up to be police officers, firemen, nurses, or doctors. Giving them the opportunity that they need,” Sherban said.
All threats have a different message
Every situation is different. Threats can be directed at a specific person, some are directed at the school. Each of these situations are handled differently as the SRO and school administration are much more involved when a threat is made towards a specific individual. If the school is targeted, SROs and detectives work together to make a plan and take action to investigate the situation.
SROs are placed in Lexington County Schools for a reason, to keep schools safe.
Join to help keep our schools safe
Do you have a passion for promoting a safe learning environment for students, staff and parents? Check out our latest job posting to become an SRO. Contact us today with any questions.