School Resource Officers

In a time where police officers in schools have become a necessity, officers like Sergeant Willie Young are making positive differences in these young lives.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Coming up on Tennessee Row Cop. If you are my age, you probably don't remember having police officers in your schools.

SPEAKER_00 0:09

The need arose for having someone there as a guardian for our students to make sure that they're safe, to make sure that the staff is safe. Dude, and ones that come to school that are violent, that are angry all the time. This is what they see at home. This is what they see on television. This is what they see in video games. And they don't have a lot of people that would be able to steer them in another direction. The high school, there was a student that had a seizure out on the sidewalk in front of the building, and she's laying on the ground, full-on seizure, and this kid walks over her and he's got a cell phone in his hand and he's just a text in the way. We're out here to do a job because we love our community. We love the people in it. We love this town. We love what it stands for. And that's the greatest gift that we can give back is that gift of servitude to our community.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Hello everyone, we're back with Tennessee Rebecca today. And if you are my age, then first of all, you need to take your medication because you know how grumpy you get when you don't have it. And second, you probably don't remember having police officers in your schools. And as unfortunate as it is, it's very fortunate that we found out that that's what was needed now, and we've got them here. And I am represented today by Sergeant Willie Young of the Tallahoma Police Department. Um absolutely couldn't be more thankful to have him on the program. Sergeant, how are you doing today, sir? I am doing well. I want to tell you, just so everybody understands, when I decided to do Tennessee Road Call, I was automatically thinking of different guests, and you were right there on top.

SPEAKER_00 1:59

Well, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

So this was, for lack of a better term, a bucket list of interviews that I've been wanting to do because I've always considered you the Swiss Army knife of police officers. You can do everything.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

I try.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

You've done about everything.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

I try.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

But for those of for those people who've lived under a rock in Tallahoma, tell us who Willie Young is.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

Um just in a word, Willie Young is a servant. I mean, I'm here to serve our public in whatever capacity I'm needed. I um I'm also a minister. So it gives me a unique opportunity to be out there where people are hurting, not only in doing this job, but in the servitude that I have with my faith. So it gives me a great chance to get out there and and show people that we as officers, we're actually human. We have lives, we're husbands, we're wives, we have other things that we do. And it gives me a great chance to impart uh a view of a godly man to people behind this badge.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

So you're able to use your ministry in this in a great way because you see you come in contact with everybody that's hurt and on their worst days, and so you can really, you know, move the message that you're trying to move.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

Right. And it doesn't always mean that I have to give them a word of God or scripture. It just means that you show compassion. That you meet people when they're in their worst and you leave them better than you found them. That's that's something I actually learned from you when I started. Watching your bless your heart. And come on now. Watching how you mentored to people and how you were compassionate towards people. That was something that I picked up on early on. As a new officer, I needed that, and that's what I try to show till the new officers is coming in, is a different way to police. You don't always have to be the big bad guy. You know, show them who you are, show them your heart, show them that you love them and you care, and it gets a better result.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

You're I'm not gonna be able to do this if you keep doing that. Come on now. Um, I know you don't do it for this, but you've like had several awards over the past several years. I know you got picked up by Good News Magazine. I know that you've been officer of the year how many times?

SPEAKER_00 4:16

Um maybe a handful, I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_01 4:19

A handful of times, and just people recognizing because we need that in law enforcement. And, you know, as you know, people in law enforcement officers get this bad rap of use of force and all like that. And I'm not saying that sometimes use of force is necessary, but it shouldn't be the first thing we go to when we can. And we'll hit on some de-escalation here in a little bit, but um wanted to bring you on and talk a little bit about school resources, school resource officers. This is fairly a new concept. It is. Um, when can you tell us a little bit about a background of school resource and how it got started?

SPEAKER_00 5:00

Um, I think it was just out of the need of the incidents that happened in schools itself that the need arose for having someone there as a guardian for our students to make sure that they're safe, to make sure that the staff is safe, and to be a deterrent for crime that happens in the schools. There's a lot that goes on in our buildings that people don't know about, that the general public doesn't know, but we intercept most of those things and we handle it at a a level that meets the child where they're at. And a lot of what we do is to educate staff in the the protocol and what they need to do to handle certain things, to help them feel as though um as though they have someone that's gonna be there that has their back if if something happened. We're just there to make sure everybody goes home at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

Yeah. Now me and you, I don't think we remember having police in schools.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

I did not have police, I had Coach Jackson.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

And who's who was that?

SPEAKER_00 6:04

Coach Jackson was the assistant principal of Tullahoma High School, and he spoke softly and he carried a big paddle.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

Okay, so he was your law in order back then.

SPEAKER_00 6:14

He was the law in order and he ruled his domain.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

Wow. I'd like to I'd I mean I'd like to get to know more about him now as well. But you know, he probably would have been a good school resource officer back in the day. I think so. What do you think? I mean, is it is it kind of talk about the times? I know we're probably getting a little deeper than I intended, but I mean does it talk about the times of where we're at now? I mean, versus then because I don't remember having these issues back in school. A drive-by shooting meant somebody pulled their pants down when they went past you back in the day. You know? The what why do we why do you think we're having these problems now?

SPEAKER_00 6:55

I think people just the compassion is gone. The care for each other is gone. You know, we live in an instant world where everything that you want you can have at the tips of your finger on your phone. So you don't have to interact with per se person to person. You can do it um via cell phone. And people have lost that connection. And in losing that connection, I think that people have gotten braver to say what they really think. And it just seems to transpire hate sometimes or discontent or confusion. And in a nutshell, here's what I think is a lot of times for our students, the ones that come to school that are violent, that are angry all the time, this is what they see at home, this is what they see on television, this is what they see in video games, and they don't have a lot of people that would be able to steer them in another direction. I think that people are just getting more violent because that's just the way the world's going. It seems like everybody is hateful, everybody is angry, everybody is having disturbances, driving down the highway, people can't get along. In Walmart, people can't get along. It's just the way the world's gonna go. It's not gonna get better, but we have to learn to manage it better.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

Well, that that's uh you know, when you said that, I can't I remember I'm thinking now about how, you know, but back in the day you was to how how you doing, shake your hand, shake your hand on like that, but I do know online you see some of these groups and stuff, it I mean, it just gets plum hateful. Yeah. You know, I I uh that's almost depressing.

SPEAKER_00 8:31

Well, here's one thing I tell people when I talk to them. I always ask them, what do you watch when you watch television? Do you watch shows that have a good moral base to it that'll leave you better when you watch it? Or do you eat popcorn to car crashes, police chases, and people getting shot and killed and eaten? You know, is that the kind of stuff that you put in you? Because if that's what you're looking at, that's all that you have that's gonna come out. And I think that Hollywood, I'm sorry to say it, but the more violent, the more gory, the more people watch it. And if you put garbage in you all the time, you can't expect to extract anything else out except garbage.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

So you think it's uh desensitizes us in a way?

SPEAKER_00 9:14

Because we sit and we'll have dinner to people getting killed, to people uh being hurt, and we don't think anything of it. So I I've witnessed it firsthand with um the high school there was a student that had a seizure out on the sidewalk in front of the building, and she's laying on the ground, full-on seizure, and this kid walks over her and he's got his cell phone in his hand and he's just a texting away. Never stops to say, Hey, are you okay, or to see if she's good. It just showed me that that compassion and that thought for someone else's life and someone else's safety and well-being is an afterthought.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

That would have never happened back in the day. No, you would have always tried to do something to help, and now they're actually showing videos of the and and I and a matter of fact, now that I think of it, I think I see like every once in a while videos of fights at school where people will actually record this, and this is to to them entertainment. Which I guess I guess it is entertainment. I mean it is it's kind of hard to look away from a car crash, so you know well, but to not even be able to go in there and help somebody having a seizure.

SPEAKER_00 10:22

And I've never understood that. You know, you said car crash. People will stop at a crash and they'll take pictures and videos and post it on Facebook. Well, you just might video someone losing their life or the last moments of their life, and this is how their family's gonna see it.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

I say people don't think about it.

SPEAKER_00 10:37

They they might not get that call just then, but they'll see something pop up on Facebook and it's like, oh my goodness, that's my husband's car, that's my wife's car, that's my child's car. And this is how they find out that their loved one's been hurt, is through other people's uh insensitivity for something.

SPEAKER_01 10:54

I guess they don't think about it. You know, but I mean that that doesn't enter their mind, and I'm not giving them an out or an excuse, but are they just like, this is something that is quite incredible, so therefore I'm already conditioned to take my phone out and record something that's not of the norm. Yeah. And now um and now we're going to be doing something that inadvertently could cause more damage to somebody from seeing their loved one being extremely hurt or killed. I I get maybe maybe people just don't really get that this stuff actually happens. Right.

SPEAKER_00 11:26

You know, it's surreal to them, you know. But instead of getting involved and giving a hand, we'll we'll take a video of it.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

Well, so you are actually perfect to be in the position that you're in because you know, uh, of the the kids that obviously could use that mentoring, right? Whether it be on the religious side or whether it just be on just the just getting through life side there on their own way. Um how many and now you you're you're with Telehoma. You're the sergeant of Telehoma, and it should have been should have been a long time ago. That's awesome that you've made it made it to that point. Um how many schools are there in Telehoma?

SPEAKER_00 12:08

There's seven.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

And are there SROs in all the schools?

SPEAKER_00 12:11

There are SROs in all the schools.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

That is so and awesome and also depressing. Why do we have to have it? You know?

SPEAKER_00 12:20

We have to have it.

SPEAKER_01 12:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

I mean, it's just the way that people are. We want to make sure that our future is safeguarded. And that's sad to say we didn't have that, as you said, back in the day, but now it seems to be necessary to protect our most important asset, which is our children, our future.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

Sergeant, if you don't mind me saying so, you've taken a negative and turned it into a positive, most, most, most definitely. Uh, tell us what the role is of an SRO, because I think there's some confusion on that, even the basics of that. Because when I think of an SRO, are you like, are you just there for the bad guy coming in to hurt the kids? Are you into the disciplinary action of the kids? Or can you tell us what your job is on a basic SRO day?

SPEAKER_00 13:04

Basic SRO day is presence. Just being there is a deterrent enough for other things that might happen. I always tell people that I'm police first, friend next. We'll work on that relationship when we get there. But my main job of being there is to make sure that everybody goes home. The relationships that are forged in the midst of doing that, they happen just because you're there. But I'm friendly, but you can't be everyone's friend, if that makes sense. Oh, absolutely. You have a job to do. And me, I might walk five, six miles a day in West Middle, checking doors, checking classrooms, making sure that things are locked up, making sure that uh the staff closes their doors, making sure that areas look like it did when I first got there. And when I'm done with that, you have lunch duty. That's the time that I interact with most of our students at West Middle. I do trivia with them, just little things to interact, to let them know, hey, I'm a real person, I'm not a robot here, although I seem to do things methodically. So I'll ask them a question, you know, and I'll give them little medals and things like that. That's just how I bridge that gap between me and them. And eventually it opens up the door for conversations and for students to come to you with things and you have an opportunity to mentor to them or just impart a little bit of who you are. I am I'm that tool that you have on the shelf that you hope you never need, but I'm always available whenever you need me for whatever situation. That's the role of every SRO is to protect first, mentor second, and somewhere along in there, teaching gets mixed in with it because I want our children to understand what it's like to um show compassion, to speak to people in the hallways. That's the first thing I do. Hey, real person just walked by you. Good morning. Oh, good morning, is to change the culture the way that our young people think and hopefully create uh a better world for them later on where they can look at someone and say, you know what, that's a real person just walked by. Maybe I need to shake their hand and find out what their name is. I just want people to be able to love on one another, and that's what I do. And I know the other SROs that we have, they do the exact same things in the buildings in their own capacity, and they're an awesome group of guys, and I couldn't be more proud to have them.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

Awesome. Absolutely. I mean, incredible. I mean, it's like I said, you've taken a something that we hate that we have to have and turned it into a positive thing. How do you go back and forth as far as okay, I want to be a friend and all like that, but I've also got to show that you know, that discipline part out there. I mean, how how do you separate that?

SPEAKER_00 15:55

Consistency. You just have to be consistent in what you do. Um I can't, so to speak, I can't be your buddy one day and then the next day you mess up, I'll still be the same. If I have to talk to you or deal with you in a compassionate way, even though you've messed up, I'll still deal with you the same way. I'll still talk to you with compassion. I have to meet people where they're at because I don't know what kind of storm you went through before you got to school or before you drove down the road or whatever situation it may be. Everybody's going through something, so I try to meet them with love, even if they've messed up. So flipping back and forth, it's not hard because I'm always gonna stay in the same same groove that I'm gonna be in, which is to show love.

SPEAKER_01 16:45

You mentioned storm. That that is a perfect opportunity to talk about something that I know you are passionate about and harp about is this program they've come out with in Tennessee about um, I'm trying to remember what it's called, but it's where if an officer goes out to their house, to that, to that kid's house, and then let's say their mom, mom or dad are in a domestic or something of that nature, and I can report to you through a system, it takes about two minutes. I can report through this system, and it tells the school, hey, this kid was just involved in a pretty serious police matter the night before. He's if he makes it to school today, it's probably not uh, he's probably not gonna be in a very great mood. Can you explain that program to us? Because I know it's fairly new as well.

SPEAKER_00 17:30

It is. Um, what we have is a program that I've tried to get out to every officer where all you've got to do is scan a QR code and you enter that child's name into it. What that system does, it will send an alert to the school and let them know that something has happened with this child, um, that law enforcement has been there. Um it doesn't give specifics on what happened or anything like that, but it just lets them know that the next day that they need to handle that child with care. Because, like I said, we don't know what they go through the day before or the night before, but I know that there have been children that have came in that have had things happen in their house, law enforcement's been in there, someone's been arrested, and they don't sleep at night, and they come in the next day, they're groggy, they're angry, they're agitated, and no one knows. And the next thing you know, we're calling the SRO into the office to talk with this child, not knowing that something has happened with that child before. So it puts us further back with making a positive impact in that child's life. So um what we're doing now with that is that alert system helps the school set up the people in place, the counselors to go to that student. Hey, um, what's going on with you today? Do you need a day to just relax? Do you need a day to have um a place to go just to sit, talk? We're here for you. So I enjoy the fact that we are now able to do that, and I like the fact that every officer does it when they have contact with a child. It lets all of us know so that we can do what's best for that child when they get to school.

SPEAKER_01 19:09

That is so amazing. The communication that you can have there, which if it wasn't for the school resource officer program, that probably wouldn't have been implemented. I'd have to I'd have to guess. Uh is that Tennessee wide or is that telehome only?

SPEAKER_00 19:24

Uh I think it's Tennessee wide.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

Yeah, but I I know it's um I think it's actually on the Meth Task Force. It is. Um, you know, it's really it's related to that, which is obviously Tennessee. Well, of course they don't call it the Meth Task Force. Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:37

It's a little weird looking when you get into it, but you know.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

But that but so so if a kid, you know, unfortunately, and I don't and I guess people who don't have these issues of having police called and all that don't think about it. But when it happens that they've been involved in these issues, now the SRO knows what is going on that something happened the night before with this child that is you know could have been very traumatic, or I mean having a police officer show up at your house has to be traumatic anyway, regardless. So well that that's cool that y'all have that.

SPEAKER_00 20:12

Yeah, it's just one more thing to help bridge the gap between us and our students so that they can not see us in such a negative way.

SPEAKER_01 20:19

Right. And y'all stay at the schools the whole time.

SPEAKER_00 20:22

We're there the whole time. And y'all have and do you do the ball games and we do all the events that are school related. Um we're there for our children, we're there for the the uh parents so that they can have a safe environment to enjoy the ball games because with everything that goes on in satellites around us, we want to make sure that everybody's safe.

SPEAKER_01 20:41

Do y'all travel with the teams and all like that?

SPEAKER_00 20:43

We now have started traveling to some of the games that um touch the surrounding counties here.

SPEAKER_01 20:49

Oh, that's cool.

SPEAKER_00 20:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:51

Because I mean I see like, you know, whenever whenever you watch football, you see, you know, like Tennessee, Alabama, for example. And I didn't ask you what fan you was because that before before I let you on the show, so it's already done now.

SPEAKER_00 21:02

Neither, I don't watch football.

SPEAKER_01 21:05

Well, that's even worse. No, uh you'll see a you know, you'll see a Tennessee state trooper there with with the Tennessee people regardless of where they're at. So y'all are actually out with them as long as it's touching the county.

SPEAKER_00 21:17

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 21:18

Yeah, uh does there a lot of problems at the schools?

SPEAKER_00 21:21

I mean during I mean during I mean I'm sure there has to be some like I mean, no more than what you would normally expect with people getting uh a little bit excited, but just your presence there, it helps keep things on an even keel, keeps things kind of um what's the word I'm looking for? Um It just kind of keeps people from getting to the point where they're screaming, shouting, agitated and angry, especially at the officials. Those guys have a tough job. Oh, I can imagine they don't always make what we think is the right call, but in that moment it's right to them.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

I now I do remember that. As a kid, having people just go crazy when an unk makes a call.

SPEAKER_00 22:04

Right.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

And these people don't know if he was out or safe. I mean, from their vantage point. They just don't want the wrong, they just don't want the call made against their team, and it can really make them mad. But maybe that's maybe that view of a police officer. Okay, well, I'm gonna I'll voice my opinion or something like that. I'm gonna have some fun, but I'll keep it under control. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna overboard it or or something like that.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

Right.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

Wow. I mean, I could I could do this all day. You're like so full of knowledge, you know, so full of of knowledge and stuff with how this uh program goes. You've been in the SRO how long?

SPEAKER_00 22:42

This is year eight.

SPEAKER_01 22:44

That's that's a while. Because I remember when you were on like the road. I mean, you're you still are from time to time, but I know you know we couldn't live without you sometimes as well. But um like I said, when when just to explain a little bit more of what I was talking about before with the Swiss Army knife, I've seen you in all roles. Um I you know, I've I have literally been with you while you were de-escalating, literally getting down on somebody's level, and I have seen you behind me uh in a uh situation where a firearm was involved and you were ready, you know, to do what you none of us wanted to do, but you were there. So is is is do you find that a difficult transition for you to go from one to the other, or do you just say this is another day at the office?

SPEAKER_00 23:38

Uh I wish there was another day at the office, man. We never know what we're gonna get into from day to day, but you just have to be mentally prepared for whatever it is. And me, I always try to meet people where they're at. I mean, if you're up here, I still want to come underneath there somewhere because I know that there's a person I'm talking to that that um has a heart, has some understanding, has some reasoning, and I want to meet that person. And I always try to leave people better than I found them. It doesn't matter the situation. I always try to look for the good somewhere in it. And, you know, not trying to throw well, I have to. I throw my faith in there because that's what God did for me. You know, He throw it in there. He looked at my mess and what I used to do, and He He found the best in me. And I try to do that for people. I try to let that compassion that was shown to me shine out here. That's just who I am. I I want to be the best representation of my father that I can be.

SPEAKER_01 24:39

Well, I can knowing you and knowing the peers at the police department, I can definitely say that's what you've done. Well, and it's very, very noticed and very appreciated. I'll tell you that. Uh, Sergeant Young, we're about uh done with our time. Is there anything that you would like to add uh to this or anything you would like to tell people as far as uh what you do or what what goes on with an with uh with the SRO or policing in general?

SPEAKER_00 25:06

I'd just like people to realize that, you know, we're not perfect. We make mistakes sometimes. We don't always make the right call, but we do our best. And I would love for people to realize that we're out here to do a job because we love our community. We love the people in it, we love this town, we love what it stands for. And that's the the greatest gift that we can give back is that gift of servitude to our community, to make sure that they have a safe environment, to make sure that they can walk out their doors and not have to worry like they do in some of the bigger cities. We do our best to show people that we love them and to be there for them. Even if if we have to stop a car, we want to be the best on that traffic stop because it might be the only time that that person has an interaction with a police officer. And we don't want to be what they see on television. We want to be the best in all things. I think that people um need to realize that what they see in these two-second videos on social media does not represent the Telehoma Police Department. It does not represent the compassion and the love that we want to show to the public. And me, I just want to be an ambassador for that. I want people to look at me, to look at everyone else that is around me, officer-wise, and say that this is the best of the best. Not just one person, but all of us.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

And I think that is an accomplishment you have reached.

SPEAKER_00 26:41

I'm still striving.

SPEAKER_01 26:43

I know. Sergeant Young, thank you so much for being with us today. And everybody out there, y'all know why now this was my bucket list to have you on on the program today. Thank you, Sergeant. Thank you. All right.

SPEAKER_00 27:01

From the sea room.