Broken Arrow Public Schools is changing the way it keeps students and staff safe while at school. While security is a fairly common sight in schools, Broken Arrow Public Schools have primarily utilized the services of off-duty police officers to provide security.
Now, Broken Arrow Public Schools has brought in retired police officers to work full-time on district security.
Scott Bross is one of the retired officers. Bross had been on the force for 25 years before deciding to retire. However, after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Bross thought about his five grandchildren and how it could have happened to them.
Bross knew then, after what he described as soul-searching, that he wanted to do what he could to keep schoolchildren safe. It was then that he found out that Broken Arrow Public Schools was bringing in retired police officers to work on security.
Bross contacted his former Broken Arrow Police Department supervisor, Jeff Martin, who now serves as the Broken Arrow Public Schools campus safety coordinator, to see if he could help with job safety.
“I have five grandkids, which probably steered my decision to the point where I’m now with elementary schools and early learning centers, and when I contacted Jeff, I told him it was where I wanted to end up. I’m going to end up in the schools with that age group because I think we haven’t really been able to get into those schools in a while,” Bross said.
Martin believed that hiring full-time officers would not only provide safety for students and staff on campus, but also a level of comfort and familiarity. Martin also knew that having officers who retired from the Broken Arrow Police Department would make communication between the security guard and the police department easier, as the two officers would likely already know each other.
“When officers respond to a school for whatever reason, they already have someone they know. They have a police background and know some of the information they’re going to need right away,” Martin said.
Bross said that after working with the children for several months now, he considers the children and staff to be part of his extended family and he wants to do everything to ensure they return home in such good condition. or better than when they arrived at school. .