Pubdate: Sat, 27 Aug 2005
Source: Citrus County Chronicle (FL)
Copyright: 2005 Citrus County Chronicle
Contact:  http://news.mywebpal.com/partners/577/public/index.html
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1193
Author: Cristy Loftis
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

COUNTY STUDENT RESOURCE OFFICERS WORK TO KEEP CITRUS COUNTY CHILDREN OUT OF 
HARM'S WAY

Multi-Tasker Only Begins To Describe A Citrus County School District's 
Student Resource Officer

SROs can act as teachers, counselors, safety consultants and law 
enforcement officers - sometimes all before lunchtime.

The SROs even referee parents battling child custody issues.

"They're using the school as the tug-of-war zone," Sgt. Kevin Purinton 
explained to school board members during a presentation Wednesday.

Purinton and Lt. James Martone oversee the Citrus County Sheriff's SRO 
program, which has been a part of the county's educational system since 1985.

This year, 12 deputies work exclusively in area schools, with one stationed 
at each middle and high school and one for every two elementary schools.

"This is the best SRO program in the state of Florida - no question," 
school board attorney Richard "Spike" Fitzpatrick said.

This summer the program was named a model SRO agency by the National 
Association of School Resource Officers, one of four in Florida.

Through the years, the Citrus program has grown and been refined to provide 
innovative and successful safety and education to children, Purinton said.

The three main functions of the SROs are to enforce laws and school rules, 
counsel students and instruct on safety issues.

The training begins in the first grade with the Junior FOCUS program, which 
stands for Filtering Out Crime United with Students.

"A lot of kids didn't know basic safety," Purinton said. "We found out that 
kids didn't know they shouldn't answer the door without knowing who it is."

They go over stranger danger, kitchen and telephone safety, and other basic 
safety skills.

In third grade, the deputies teach the Child Lures program, which was 
developed by a journalist who interviewed almost 2,000 sexual predators and 
pedophiles. He used the information he learned to teach children the common 
lures criminals use such as showing affection, asking for help finding a 
pet, bribery, acting like a hero, or using authority.

"Children love to help people," Purinton said, after showing board members 
a video where a man lures away a boy by asking for help finding his dog.

While SROs teach children to run away from potentially dangerous people and 
tell an adult what happened, Purinton believes they may need to begin 
teaching children minor defense tactics such as screaming.

"Is it foolproof? No," Purinton said.

Jessica Lunsford, a third-grader at Homosassa Elementary School, was 
abducted from her home last spring, raped and murdered.

"Jessica Lunsford went through this training," Purinton said. "Most people 
think they are secure in their own homes."

In fifth grade, the children get the full FOCUS program, which replaced the 
older Drug and Alcohol Resistance Education, DARE, program in 2000.

FOCUS aims at giving students a common understanding of the effects of 
drugs on people, self-esteem awareness, how to resist gangs and violence, 
consequences and cyber safety.

Purinton said middle school is when many children begin experimenting with 
drugs and alcohol, and they want to reach them beforehand.

"We believe in early intervention," Purinton said.

Once in middle school, the SROs teach Project Alert, a substance abuse 
prevention program.

The SROs work, not only to motivate the children from using drugs, they 
teach the pre-teens how to resist peer pressure.

"You just can't tell them to say 'no' anymore," Purinton said. "You have to 
teach them how to say 'no.'"

In high schools, the SROs are more flexible and respond to what the 
teenagers are up to.

"As trends develop in our county we are very flexible to changing and 
adapting," Purinton said. "The role of the SRO is ever-changing."

The deputies focus on educating on driver safety, resisting drugs, 
ATM/credit card safety and what the age of consent is for sex.

"We're finding our No. 1 drug charge in high school is possession of 
marijuana," Purinton said.

Last year, 30 children were arrested for possession of marijuana - 38 were 
arrested the year before.

Currently, the SROs are working to update and unify school lockdown 
procedures, update safe school plans, conduct unified training drills with 
other emergency agencies, increase digital surveillance and work on bus 
transportation safety.

"We're becoming safety consultants for the school system," Purinton said.

One technology update that has become a great asset to SROs is that each 
school site has a computer that allows the deputies to access school floor 
plans and check criminal backgrounds.

They also hope to have an SRO at each school site by 2010.

"Hopefully, in five years," Martone said, "with support we'll get there."
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman