GARFIELD — Deputy Rick Holland, school resource officer at Garfield Elementary, knows the school well. He should. Three decades ago, he was a student there.
In fact, Holland recalls that when he was in sixth grade, he and other students voted on what the school mascot should be.
The students selected the Hound dog - still the mascot today.
Holland, a deputy with the Benton County Sheriff’s for the past seven years, volunteered for the assignment and will attend school resource officer classes with the Criminal Justice Institute in Little Rock this spring.
“We’re just in the beginning phases,” Holland said, explaining that when Sheriff Kelly Cradduck asked who would be interested in being an SRO for the two schools in the county - Garfield and Cooper Elementary - he stepped up.
“Just his presence in the building is going to be helpful for the parents and students to continue to feel safe,” Stephen Bowman, principal, said. Bowman is in his second year as principal at Garfield.
There are 130 students kindergarten through fifth grade at Garfield, which is in the Rogers School District.
“It’s exciting to know that the sheriff has taken the necessary steps to make sure our school is safe,” Bowman said.
Traffic for the school, located on U.S. Highway 62 in Garfield, is a major concern, Holland said, adding that the presence of a law enforcement officer in the mornings and afternoons when buses are entering and departing the property should help slow down traffic.
Holland said an SRO interacts not only with the students, but also with their parents and the school staff.
“The sheriff is allowing me to head up the SRO program and visit with other SROs and get the basic knowledge necessary.
Going to classes will further that knowledge and I look forward to coming up with safety programs for Garfield,” Holland said.
Programs may include stranger awareness, gun safety, what to do in the event of an intruder, bullying, communication and getting along with others and saying ‘no’ to drugs, Holland said. “The possibilities are endless.”
“I want to instill in the younger children that they can trust police officers.
We’re not there for discipline, but to help,” he said.
“If they have a bad situation, I want them to know they can come talk to the SRO or any police officer.”
Holland, who was raised in Garfield, graduated from Rogers High School.
He and his wife have been married 25 years and have two grown sons and one grandson.
News, Pages 1 on 03/06/2013