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Local in Mississippi: Keeping DeSoto County kids safe and the community prepared

DeSoto County Schools will be better protected this school year with additional School Resource Officers, or SROs.

DESOTO COUNTY,Miss. (localmemphis.com) –DeSoto County Schools will be better protected this school year with additionalSchool Resource Officers, or SROs.  Plus, a new county-wide alert systemwill help keep citizens and people traveling through DeSoto County betterinformed during emergency situations. 

“They need tocome to school to learn. They don’t need to come to school to be scared they’regoing to be shot,” said DeSoto County Sheriff Bill Rasco. 

DeSoto County,Mississippi, officials are passionate about safety especially when it comes tokids. School starts August 7th in DeSoto County. 

The Board ofSupervisors just approved funding for four additional School Resource Officersfor the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Office. That means all 14 DeSoto County Schoolslocated in the unincorporated areas of the county will each have an SRO. 

Including salary, equipment, and training, it costs about $80,000a year to hire and keep one school resource officer. Funding for SROs comesfrom the board of supervisors, grant money first requested by Caldwell, and theschool board.             

We are all about our children and thesafety of them. They are number one in our hearts in this county,” said LeeCaldwell, President of the DeSoto County Board of Supervisors. 

At this week’s board of supervisors meeting,IPAWS was also talked about. IPAWS, short for, Integrated Public Alert andWarning System, will notify people of emergency situations such as severeweather, train derailments, chemical spills. and other things. If your phonepings off a nearby tower, you’ll automatically get an alert. No need to sign upor download an app.                                       

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