CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office recently issued a reminder to students and parents that effective July 1, making threats of violence – even non-credible threats of violence – on school property is a chargeable offense.

Year-to-date, seven students at Clarksville-Montgomery County Schools have been charged with making a threat of violence on school property, according to MCSO spokeswoman Sandra Brandon.

Threats have to be taken seriously: Since the beginning of the school year, School Resource Officers have confiscated four firearms:

  • One from a student’s backpack at New Providence Middle.
  • One from a student’s vehicle in the parking lot of Montgomery Central High.
  • One in possession of a West Creek High student during a basketball jamboree at Austin Peay Dunn Center.
  • One in possession of a parent in the parking lot at Northeast High.

SRO’s also confiscated five knives as of Nov. 17:

  • Two at Rossview High.
  • One at Rossview Middle.
  • One at Kenwood Middle.
  • One at Northeast Middle.

SRO’s conducted the following investigations as of Nov. 17:

  • 53 assault incidents.
  • 58 drug cases.
  • 22 threats of violence on school property.

During that time, they filed 353 charges against juveniles and eight charges against adults.

Shifting focus to safety

The SRO’s work to avoid making enforcement the focus of their work. According to Brandon, SRO’s have provided over 800 hours of counseling and conflict resolution. During these sessions, SRO’s will meet to students to provide informal counseling, support, guidance and positive feedback, she said.

“By design, the School Resource Officer Program was implemented to be a resource for our schools and to have two important impacts on a student’s education,” said Sheriff John Fuson. “The first impact is to help positively influence and mentor students, and the second is to create a safe learning environment for the facility, students and staff.

“Unfortunately, it has become necessary for most SRO programs, ours included, to focus primarily on safety. It can be challenging to keep our nearly 38,000 students and 5,100 educators and staff safe, but our SRO’s work hard to do exactly that each and every day,” Fuson said.

The program started in Montgomery County in 1994 with four deputies serving at the four high schools open at the time, creating a bridge between the schools and law enforcement. Today, 39 SRO’s, five SRO sergeants, and one SRO lieutenant serve at 39 schools. All deputies are P.O.S.T (Peace Officer Standards and Training) certified and complete a minimum of 40 hours of training annually.