FAIRMONT — Nearly 20 Robeson County Sheriff’s Office School Resource Officers participated in active shooter training Friday as more officers prepare to protect students and take their place in Public Schools of Robeson County schools this year.

Eighteen SROs and some sheriff’s deputies gathered for the second time this year to train ahead of the school year at the campus of the former Green Grove Elementary School, which is now a training center for Basic Law Enforcement Training students at Robeson Community College.

All schools will be assigned an SRO, but some officers will share time and cover multiple schools.

“I feel confident with the training we have instilled in our deputies that they will provide security necessary to protect our kids, teachers and staff,” Robeson County Sheriff Burnis Wilkins said.

RCSO Training Coordinator Lt. Ricky Williams explained the importance of such training.

“These guys have to be prepared for this,” Williams said. “The quicker they get there … the more people they’re gonna save.”

Active shooter training

The training, conducted annually by the Sheriff’s Office and RCC, consisted of a classroom portion where instructors discussed a series of situations and scenarios SROs in an active shooter situation may encounter as well as other active shooter incidents that have happened throughout the country at schools and businesses.

“If [we] see another agency that had an active shooter situation, how they handled it, if it worked good then we’ll use that,” Willaims said. “If it’s something that didn’t work good, we’ll go over that with them.”

SROs were urged to get to know the layouts of the schools they are assigned because every minute counts in an active shooter situation.

“If somebody says hey he’s in room 205 in the fifth-grade wing of the school, as an SRO they should know exactly where that is without saying how do I get there … It’s wasting time,” Williams said.

Following the class, SROs and some deputies participated in solo scenarios, slightly different from the typical four-man scenario training, in a school setting.

The SROs training are “pretty proficient in four-man movements” but participating in solo scenarios also helps prepare SROs to react quickly before aid arrives, Williams said.

“A two-man and solo is a lot more realistic than a four-man,” he said. “You can’t stand around waiting for two or three more people to get there.”

Adding another more-realistic layer of training, SROs used simunition rounds, which consist of plastic pellets filled with soap.

“We can tell during the training if you’re hesitant on a simunition round, that’s already showing us,” Wilkins said.

Eliminating hesitation is one of the most important lessons to be learned, Williams said.

“They’re not taught to turn around and go the other way. They are taught — and we pound it in their heads — you need to go where the problem is as fast as you can,” Williams said.

“What I expect of them is if a person comes into a school with the intention of violence with a weapon, I expect aggressive violence back to stop that threat,” Wilkins added. “That’s the way it’s got to be.”

Sgt. Reginald Roberts, an SRO at Fairmont High School, said he’s been working in the school systems for more than a decade. Thinking of the students, faculty and staff as his family is what keeps him from hesitating to come to their defense.

“I treat them as if they’re relatives — sons, daughters, uncles, aunts. That makes me want to go faster and harder,” Roberts said. “I don’t want to lose anybody on my watch. You just gotta go and do what needs to be done.”

Additional SROs

The Public Schools of Robeson County has hired eight more SROs to provide security measures in its schools this coming year. Six will divide time to cover elementary schools and an additional officer will be placed at Purnell Swett High School, bringing the school’s total to three because of high enrollment.

The SRO positions are funded by PSRC at a cost of $455,000.

North Carolina lawmakers earmarked $47 million in funding as part of the School Safety Grant. This grant program opened Thursday, according to Bobby Locklear, assistant superintendent of Auxiliary Services.

“With that School Safety Grant we have the option to request additional SROs, equipment and training,” Locklear said.

The school system is still in the beginning stages of determining how to use the grant.

“We may fill it up with everything. We may say we want a resource officer for every site… We’re just in the preliminary talks about that right now,” Locklear said.

PSRC currently partners with multiple law enforcement agencies throughout the county to provide SROs at schools.

PSRC also will continue to put additional security measures in place to enhance school safety measures across the school district, according to PSRC Superintendent Freddie Williamson.

“The Public Schools of Robeson County will continue partnering with local law enforcement agencies to provide safe learning environments in our classrooms that are conducive to student success,” Williamson said.