Madison County Sheriff’s Office trains SROs ahead of next school year
MADISON COUNTY, Tenn. — The Madison County Sheriff’s Office is hosting classes for school resource officers.
The sheriff’s department started a two day training session with the Strategies for Youth organization and their class called Policing the Teen Brain in School.
The class is designed to teach SROs about how to de-escalate situations with students. Director of Operations and Training David Walker says they have one mission.
“Help improve the interactions between law enforcement and youth. We do that by helping police understand how the brain develops and how that affects how youth respond to all figures of authority,” Walker said.
He says officers are usually trained to handle situations with adults, but not always children.
Teenage brains have not always developed fully to respond to confrontation in the way an adult would. That is where a different tactic comes in.
“We tell officers that it is their job to help young people understand the consequences of their actions, to teach them, to guide them, to mentor them,” Walker said.
Officers in the field usually have a small amount of time with the person they are working with.
Walker says the best way is to establish a relationship with the young person, and this can start by simply asking what their name is.
“Having your first question be ‘Are you okay?’ before you get into your investigation. This helps develop in that young persons head the idea that this is a person that is concerned for me, respects me as a human being, and is concerned for my safety,” Walker said.
“The program is using different strategies to make sure that every child is safe in schools.
For more information on the security of youth, click here.
