SUMNER COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — Summer break officially starts Friday for Sumner County students.
However, school resource officers (SROs) are already preparing for next year.
“Picture yourself in your school. They are holding hostages in a room. How long are we going to be holding this position for?”
That was the mindset for Sumner County SROs during a training on Thursday.
“The basics is what we go back to. When we have a critical incident, something that is very high stress, we immediately go back to our basics,” said Sgt. Chris Vines with the Sumner County Sheriff’s Office’s SRO division.
On Thursday, all 50 Sumner County SROs went through training from inside the classroom to on the shooting range.
“Multiple times throughout the year, we do modified training to make sure we are sharp, fast, and able to respond without putting a lot thought to it. We just do it through muscle memory,” Vines said.
This school year was the first time that every school had a full time SRO on campus.
It’s a relief for Vines, who also is a father to a Sumner County student.
“It gives me comfort to know that I have one of my cohorts inside that building that will do absolutely everything in their power to not only keep my kid safe, but everyone else’s kid in the county safe,” Vines said.
As students head off to summer break, Vines said it is important to train all year round.
“That way we can make ourselves better, because we have to always be learning. We have to always be adapting to anything and everything,” Vines said.
In three weeks from now, their division will head off to a school safety conference in Pigeon Forge for a specialized training.
The Sumner County Sheriff’s office and the SRO division were recently awarded among the best in the nation.