Greencastle Schools set to welcome School Resource Officer to district

The last of Putnam County's four school districts without a school resource officer will finally have one, beginning in April.

Greencastle Community School Corporation has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the City of Greencastle, paving the way for the district to finally have a school resource officer, something that has been years in the making. 

The decision has also been the dream of Greencastle Assistant Police Chief Ed Wilson, who also serves on the Greencastle Community School Corporation school board. The addition of the officer was something Wilson emphasized last year when he was seeking appointment back onto the board. 

"It feels great to finally have this program up and running. I began this journey at least five years ago, and, thanks to the dedication of a lot of people, we are now seeing it fulfilled. It is extremely vital to the district. It is an unfortunate reality that we have to have SROs in the schools, but we cannot sit idly by and wait for something bad to happen," Wilson told The Putnam County Post. 

Wilson, as well as other Greencastle police officers had been providing support to the schools, but now there will be a dedicated fleet of officers assigned to the district's schools, something Wilson said is still being ironed out. 

"We don't have an exact number of dedicated officers yet. Now that we have a signed MOU by the city and the school, we have moved forward with getting a final pool of those interested. We did obtain a soft dedication from the officers before we began the MOU process to make sure that we could provide a viable service," Wilson explained. 

Wilson said a school resource officer has multiple hats they must wear during the school day in addition to providing security for the schools. 

"They also form bonds with students, staff and parents that a standard road officer might not have. In addition, it provides a bit of mental relief as a parent to know that there is an SRO on patrol with the schools," Wilson said. 

Wilson said there are quite a few people who should be thanked for their efforts in making this endeavor a reality. 

"I would like to add that I would like to thank Chief Jones, Mayor Dunbar, City Atty Lori Hardwick, and Superintendent Jeff Gibbony along with his support staff at GCSC for their hard work in making this a reality," Wilson said.