GREENSBORO, N.C. — The mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas has many thinking about school safety and the role school resource officers (SRO) play in protecting students and teachers.
WFMY spoke with a former SRO with Guilford County Schools to find out some of the challenges these officers face.
Marc Ridgill retired from the Greensboro Police Department in 2014 after 29 years of service. He said he spent his last eight years as the only school resource officer at Grimsley High School in Guilford County. During that time, Ridgill said he was responsible for securing 11 buildings and 44 acres of the school's campus.
“Schools by the way they are designed are soft targets,” Ridgell said. “There are multiple entrances, there are ground-level windows. The biggest challenge I found in Guilford County is you have limited resources like your SRO, some school administrators, and maybe teachers that are doing sweeps during their planning periods. Those are your limited resources to cover the perimeter."
According to Guilford County Schools, almost every traditional middle and high school has at least one SRO on campus. As the school district prepares to build several new schools, Ridgill said the designs should be focused more on safety.
“We need to start thinking a little more practical when it comes to securing these schools,” Ridgill said. “A bad guy with a gun and an agenda is hard to stop, but you can add features to these schools and their designs that would at least deter him or keep him or her from getting into the school as easily, and maybe that just extra minute or two will help you get there in time."
Guilford County Schools said its master plan to rebuild and renovate schools include plans to invest in school safety by reducing infrastructure and site vulnerability.