Overton County Schools have granted all the system’s School Resource Officers remote access to cameras throughout the school district.
Director of Schools Donnie Holman said the agreement allows SROs to use camera systems to monitor events happening at other schools. Holman said the memorandum of understanding allowing this access requires the SROs to be highly confidential with the information they have.
“Heaven forbid that something bad did go wrong, we want to have as many, we want to be able to utilize all the equipment we have for the safety of our students,” Holman said. “And there could easily be a way that an SRO at one school might could see something to help the school that is having an issue.”
Holman said he expects to have everything signed and get the plan ready to go in the next couple weeks. Holman said he believes the SROs are all familiar with the camera system but there will likely be some additional training with the district’s IT department.
“Of course their primary focus is their one school,” Holman said. “But in a time of crisis we would all be working, doing everything that we possibly could to help each other in any way we could.”
Holman said this agreement will not require any extra cost for the school system to implement. The agreement was written so that it is between the school board, the county’s sheriff’s department, and the Livingston Police Department.
“This memorandum of understanding is separate from the original SRO MOU that we have,” Holman said.
