Randolph BOE updated on Prevention Resource Officer program
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ELKINS -- Randolph County Sheriff's Deputy Rocky Hebb discussed the county's Prevention Resource Officer program at this week's Randolph County Board of Education meeting.
The PRO program, a partnership between the BOE and the Randolph County Commission, got its start in 2021, when Hebb and Deputy Daniel Pennington were stationed at Tygarts Valley Middle/High School and Elkins Middle School. In 2023 deputy Ethan Carr was added to the mix to served as the PRO officer at Elkins High School.
Hebb, who is the PRO regional liaison for Tucker, Upshur, Barbour and Randolph counties, gave the BOE an update from the past year, stressing that the program isn't just about safety and security.
"I always preach to everybody that life is the most important thing that we have and always will be," Hebb said. "But don't get honed in on just the safety and security of the program, though that is an important part of it. The beauty of the PRO program is the prevention part. That's so you don't ever have to get to the security or safety part."
Hebb said the most important part of prevention comes from the relationships the officers have with the students.
"The mentoring that we do is unbelievable," Hebb said. "The classroom facilitations that we do and the interactions we have with our youth is incredible. We also do counseling and we have a great rapport with the students that doesn't just take place throughout the school year, but it ends up becoming lifelong."
The deputy talked about how the PRO officers also worked with the students in the classroom this past school year.
"Some of the classes we've been in are driver's ed, criminal law, current events, law enforcement, physical fitness and agility, and good decision making and morals, which is directed more toward the grade schools," Hebb said.
"One of the big programs we brought back three years ago was the hunter education classes, which the kids really love. We really make that class as fun as we possibly can for them. And thanks to the National Resource Police we were able to bring that into the schools."
Hebb said just because the three PRO officers are stationed at certain schools, that doesn't mean they are limited to just those locations.
"We do as many school visitations as we possibly can," Hebb said. "We visited all the schools in the county this year and did many extracurricular events like proms, graduations, and ball games…
"We also got to do the games we do every year where we play against the students, although this year it was a kickball game instead of basketball. I'm getting older and I can't seem to run up and down the court like I used to, so the kickball game was a little more down my alley."
Hebb told the BOE about some of the cases the PRO officers worked on this year.
"We all three had cases and I had several 'crimes against children' cases I worked on this past year, and I made several arrests in those cases," Hebb said. "We did several home visits this year and had several overdoses because of the vape and dab pens… We had one situation where a weapon was brought into a school and it was dealt with immediately. It was handled, in my opinion, very well. Nobody got hurt and it was taken care of."
"You have two tremendous PRO officers in your schools in Ethan and Danny," Hebb said. "They have both won awards for what they do, but that's not why they do what they do… I want to recognize them because they do such good work.
"Danny helped a student this year who needed money for a dance competition in New York. He took them on a tour of New York and paid for all of that out of his pocket. He dressed up as the Grinch this year and went to all eight grade schools at Christmas…
"As for Ethan, there was a girl that had passed out at one of the homecoming dances and he provided immediate medical attention and got EMS on the scene. He also helped a student who was contemplating suicide, and gave money out of his pocket to help kids attend events."
BOE President Rachel Anger told Hebb that she has heard nothing but good things about the county's PRO officers.
"Anyone I have been in contact with regarding the PRO program has been very complimentary," Anger said. "I have never heard anything but compliments."
The next Board of Education meeting will be Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at the Central Office.