Prevention Resource Officers Visit Ohio County for Training
Derek Redd Trending
Prevention resource officers from around West Virginia have spent this week in Ohio County learning more about caring for some of the Mountain State's most precious resources -- its school students.
The Highlands Events Center has hosted 128 PROs -- law enforcement officials from county sheriff and municipal police departments who work in their respective counties' schools -- for training in several aspects of the job. Ohio County Sheriff Tom Howard, who brought this statewide training to Ohio County for the last few years, said the ability to get so many PROs under one roof at the same time has so many benefits.
"It's so important to be all on the same wavelength," Howard said. "Being able to all go through the same training and being able to network throughout the whole state is great. To be able to talk statewide and bounce off ideas and instances that happen to each other is so helpful."
Uniformity in training is a crucial element to being a PRO, said Patrolman Adam Jones of the Vienna Police Department. There may be some small differences between how each PRO handles his or her job, but the fundamentals will remain consistent. That way, there are no issues with one county doing things vastly different than another.
"It's important for us to make sure that everyone is on the same page," Jones said. "Everybody who comes through the training is taught the same thing. There are no discrepancies and everyone is expected to carry themselves the same way."
The dozens of officers who spent the week at the Highlands were able to dive deeper into several facets of the job. On Tuesday, they discussed educator misconduct investigations and saw a presentation on drug abuse prevention from DARE America. On Wednesday, they listened to Peggy Hovatter from the West Virginia Autism Training Center and her presentation on interacting with students on the autism spectrum.
Also on Wednesday, PROs participated in active shooter scenarios and discussed when and when not to shoot in such a situation. Thursday's discussion was with Lt. Col. (Ret.) David Grossman, a former U.S. Army officer who is now an author who conducts seminars on violence prevention.
This year's training seminar was one of, if not the largest since the event has come to Ohio County, Howard said. He added that it was a great feeling to see more than 100 PROs all coming together and staying in rapt attention to the lessons being discussed throughout the week.
The main mission is to keep students safe from the numerous dangers they could face, and Howard knows the officers here this week will take those lessons and put them to good use.
"I'm honored to be able to do this and get everybody together and everybody working together," he said. "That's what we need. I want it to be bigger and better every year. And the biggest thing overall is the kids. It's about the safety of the children, and that's why we do this."