GAINESVILLE - The Hall County Sheriff's Office (HCSO) Tuesday responded to questions raised Monday by the Hall County Commission (HCC) concerning patrol cars.
Two commissioners questioned why two of 13 new patrol cars being purchased for the sheriff's department were being given to school resource officers and why the color scheme for the school resource cars is different than for regular uniformed officer cars.
Col. Wayne Mock said Tuesday the new cars are being given resource officers because those officers use their cars for more than just driving back and forth work. Col. Mock said they the officers use them for after-school activities, to accompany school groups on out-of-town trips, etc.
In addition, Col Mock said, for each new car that is put into service at a school, an old car, the one being turned in by a school resource officer, goes to the sheriff's department's Detective Division "where we may get another four or five years of use out of it." Mock pointed out that the department does not put as many miles on detective cars or put them on the cars as quickly compared to the patrol cars the uniformed officers use.
As for the color scheme, Mock says the black-toned cars used by the resource officers signify to school personnel and students and their parents that a school resource officer is on the property. Otherwise, he said the appearance of a car with the Arizona desert color scheme used on patrol cars might indicate that it was an officer on campus responding to a 9-1-1 call. Mock said cars with a different color scheme add to the sense of security that goes with having school resource officers.
Col. Mock also pointed out that the school resource officers and their equipment are funded 70% by the Hall County Board of Education and 30% by the Hall County Commission and that the commission signed off on the budget earlier this year.
Saturday
May 4th, 2024
8:13AM
