Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office focusing on school security

Monday’s school shooting in Nashville has many parents thinking about the safety measures in place at their own child’s school. 

Tuscaloosa County Sheriff Ron Abernathy tells WVUA 23 News that his deputies are stationed at schools across Tuscaloosa County with one goal in mind and that is the safety of all students. 

“We want to make sure that we do everything we can do from a preventative standpoint. We want to know if there is a problem with a student or parent or whoever it may be that may be a threat. We want to make sure that we get on the front end and address it before it escalates to a much more serious situation,” said Sheriff Ron Abernathy. 

 And just in case a situation turned serious, Sheriff Abernathy says all their deputies train at their shooting range on a regular basis for potential school violence.  

 “We train. It varies throughout the year and what type of unit they are in. At a minimum, they train for an entire week and usually like the SRO they will be going to training this summer. They will be going down to south Alabama for some specialized SRO training,” said Abernathy. 

The Tuscaloosa County school board recently approved funding for four additional deputies to serve as school resource officers. That brings the total number of deputies who patrol schools across Tuscaloosa County to 10. Sheriff Abernathy would like for this number to increase. 

“We hope to expand that even more, but for the most part we have them in all the high schools and most of the middle schools also. And again, I want to say how much I appreciate the school board stepping up and allocating the funding. That is how important they think it is too, so it is all about us working together and trying to make it as safe as we can for the kids here in Tuscaloosa County,” said Sheriff Abernathy.