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PREVENTIVE RESOURCE OFFICER (PRO)
Preventive Resource Officer (PRO). In 2006, the Charleston Police Department became the first police department in Kanawha County to have a trained and certified PRO. The program is sponsored by a grant from the Division of Criminal Justice and has been successful state wide. The motto is “where law enforcement and education meet”. The program is a cooperative effort between schools and law enforcement to improve student attitudes towards law enforcement, to prevent students from committing crimes, to provide a safer environment and combine safety and child advocacy assuming a better school experience for all youth. Officers are trained then placed in either a middle or high school. Officers must be at the school a minimum of 35 hours per week, not including outside activities such as athletic events. The officer facilitates on topics such as juvenile law, domestic violence, and child abuse and neglects just to name a few. The common question is: what is the difference between a PRO and a SRO? The answer is: the PRO program focuses on prevention, mentoring and safety while most SRO programs focus on policing and security. The officers maintain a classroom/office within the school and schedule classes with the teachers. Records are maintained for the monthly grant paperwork as well as confidential records of personal contacts with students. For more information, contact PRO Cpl Monica Spriggs at Stonewall Jackson Middle School, 812 Park Avenue, Charleston, WV 25302, telephone 348-6123 or at the Division of Criminal Justice website: www.wvdcjs.com/pro. |
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