Child safety at center of Kanawha County sheriff’s plan

Kanawha County School students will soon get used to seeing uniformed deputy sheriff’s walking the halls of their schools.   Sheriff Johnny Rutherford has instituted a program which will put a deputy randomly in schools around the county.

“We’re going to dedicated 30-thousand dollars for overtime funds and with those funds go to every school in Kanawha County in four-hour blocks,” said Rutherford. “They’ll be in uniform walking the halls of the school with their patrol cars parked out front.”

Rutherford said it’s an effort to simply increase the presence of uniformed law enforcement in the county school system.   The county school board will pay nothing for the service.

“All of us have children in the schools in Kanawha County,” said Rutherford. “We just want to make our children safe.  That’s what it’s all about, just children’s safety.”

Already, a deputy is permanently stationed at Riverside High School. Two more full-time prevention resource officers travel to other schools.  This will expand the presence and the number of schools both within city limits and in rural parts of the county.

Rutherford said the deputies will be offering teachers tips on improving classroom safety when they aren’t there and will offer to inspect classrooms and hallways to look for ways to make them more secure.

The sheriff said the county commission is also on board to support the school patrol mission.