St. Mary's Co. Sheriff Hall Expands School Resource Officer Program Into Elementary Schools

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Cpl. Julie Yingling​

Sheriff Steven A. Hall is proud to announce the expansion of the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office School Resource Officer program into the county’s public elementary schools.

The St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office provides School Resource Officers at the three public high schools and four public middle schools in St. Mary’s County. This week, Cpl. Julie Yingling, a 25-year veteran of the agency, was added as a School Resource Officer to serve at the 19 public elementary schools in St. Mary’s County on a rotating basis.

“It’s the one thing in the School Resource Officer program that needed to be addressed and this is the first step,” Sheriff Hall said.

“Cpl. Yingling brings the skill set and expertise to provide the resources back into our School Resource Officer program, to the families, and the students and the school staff. It’s incredibly satisfying. This is my 30th day as Sheriff and the program started today,” Sheriff Hall said on Thursday.

While visiting students at Lettie Marshall Dent Elementary School in Mechanicsville, Sheriff Hall told a first-grade class that the new School Resource Officer will be “checking up on you guys to make sure you’re happy and safe.”

Many of the students during the visit told the Sheriff that they already love police officers.

“We love you. That’s why we’re here,” Sheriff Hall told a kindergarten class there.

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Sheriff Hall, Sgt. Robert Merritt and Cpl. Yingling​

St. Mary’s County Public Schools Superintendent J. Scott Smith said, “St. Mary's County Public Schools is tremendously thankful for the continued commitment to our partnership and the support of Sheriff Hall and the men and women of the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office. The addition of a dedicated school resource officer for our elementary schools is a significant enhancement for school safety and security. Together, we are committed to the continued expansion of all school security initiatives including School Resource Officers, adopt-a-school officers, and uniformed security for all of our schools.”

In the 1998-1999 school year, the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office and the St. Mary’s County Board of Education entered into a collaborative agreement that assigned a deputy to each of the three public high schools. The program was expanded in the 2005-2006 school year to add two more deputies, who split their time among the four public middle schools.

In the 2019-2020 school year, two more deputies were added, providing a School Resource Officer at each of the four public middle schools.

The new School Resource Officer for the public elementary schools will visit the campuses on a rotating basis, including the Chesapeake Charter School. The Sheriff’s Office also continues its Adopt-A-School program, where deputies volunteer to check on a specific elementary school during their regular duties.

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Cpl. Yingling hands out junior badges to students​

Download the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s App for free at https://apps.myocv.com/share/a48820650

Disclaimer: In the U.S.A., all persons accused of a crime by the State are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. See: https://so.md/presumed-innocence. Additionally, all of the information provided above is solely from the perspective of the respective law enforcement agency and does not provide any direct input from the accused or persons otherwise mentioned. You can find additional information about the case by searching the Maryland Judiciary Case Search Database using the accused's name and date of birth. The database is online at https://so.md/mdcasesearch . Persons named who have been found innocent or not guilty of all charges in the respective case, and/or have had the case ordered expunged by the court can have their name, age, and city redacted by following the process defined at https://so.md/expungeme.

 

[Merlin99]

Once again a (probably) controversial opinion. I think that instead of building all of the little police stations all over the place they should put the station in the schools. Instead of having a dedicated SRO, every cop in the station is an SRO. This would give the kids a chance to interact with the police in a non confrontational situation. If there's a situation at the school, fights, guns, drugs..., it's not a call and wait situation, they're Johnny on the spot.

 

[Ken King]

Once again a (probably) controversial opinion. I think that instead of building all of the little police stations all over the place they should put the station in the schools. Instead of having a dedicated SRO, every cop in the station is an SRO. This would give the kids a chance to interact with the police in a non confrontational situation. If there's a situation at the school, fights, guns, drugs..., it's not a call and wait situation, they're Johnny on the spot.

Okay, what about when lil' Johnny's or Susie's Mom comes in sporting a shiner, dislocated jaw, or maybe a bloody lip to report her abuse. You want the kids exposed to that? As it is a station, would the kids get to watch perps being "interviewed", the drunk or drugged bouncing off the walls. All this at an elementary school.

 

[stgislander]

As it is a station, would the kids get to watch perps being "interviewed", the drunk or drugged bouncing off the walls. All this at an elementary school.

On this exciting episode of Scared Straight....

 

[Merlin99]

Okay, what about when lil' Johnny's or Susie's Mom comes in sporting a shiner, dislocated jaw, or maybe a bloody lip to report her abuse. You want the kids exposed to that? As it is a station, would the kids get to watch perps being "interviewed", the drunk or drugged bouncing off the walls. All this at an elementary school.

No I'd have a school entrance and a police station entrance out of sight from each other, more like they would back up to each other. Does the public see the interviews or the drunks at the station now?

 

[Ken King]

No I'd have a school entrance and a police station entrance out of sight from the school entrance, more like they would back up to each other. Does the public see the interviews or the drunks at the station now?

If they are at the station they would, right? Hey, would the cops get priority parking? How about having officers heading out on a call right at arrival or departure time for the kids? That could be interesting, huh?

 

[Merlin99]

If they are at the station they would, right? Hey, would the cops get priority parking? How about having officers heading out on a call right at arrival or departure time for the kids? That could be interesting, huh?

I’ve only been the police station a couple of times and everything was conducted out of sight. I’d guess that’s normal, but that’s all it would be. Like I said before I’d have the police side away from the school side, a side entrance or back entrance so the police business side and the school business side are isolated. As far as needing a hasty departure, I think a special police lane could fix most of the problems.

 

[TPD]

Maybe if we let teachers and principals do their jobs without fear of retaliation then we would not need LEOs in schools. Of course the issue is deeper than this in that we have allowed kids to have too many "rights". Let's end the "no kid left behind" and return to rulers on the knuckles and expulsion from school. Some kids are not meant to be educated, but rather dig ditches and pick up trash.

 

[Ken King]

@Merlin99 Okay, there are what 19 elementary schools, 4 middle schools and 3 high schools, add 3 more for Chesapeake Charter, Fairlead Academy, and Tech Center. That is one Hell of a lot of police stations, would any have more than one officer assigned? You know they still have to staff HQ and 3 district stations or would those be shuttered?

Right now there are 7 SROs (3 at the high schools, one for each middle school) and then the new SRO that will rotate about all the elementary schools and Chesapeake Charter.

 

[Grumpy]

Wonder if Newport News is following this..

 

[Merlin99]

@Merlin99 Okay, there are what 19 elementary schools, 4 middle schools and 3 high schools, add 3 more for Chesapeake Charter, Fairlead Academy, and Tech Center. That is one Hell of a lot of police stations, would any have more than one officer assigned? You know they still have to staff HQ and 3 district stations or would those be shuttered?

Right now there are 7 SROs (3 at the high schools, one for each middle school) and then the new SRO that will rotate about all the elementary schools and Chesapeake Charter.

I get it Ken, you don’t like the idea. It was just a thought on how to get the kids and the police to be able to interact without it being a traumatic experience.

 

[Ken King]

I get it Ken, you don’t like the idea. It was just a thought on how to get the kids and the police to be able to interact without it being a traumatic experience.

Really? You figured that out. Putting a station at each school would be expensive, unnecessary, and potentially dangerous or traumatic.

If you want the kids to interact rotate an officer to each elementary schools one day a week. Would only take 4 officers a day for the 19 schools. Or 2 officers a day if they split their time between 2 schools each day.

 

[black dog]

I thought lesbians didnt like children.

 

[black dog]

Really? You figured that out. Putting a station at each school would be expensive, unnecessary, and potentially dangerous or traumatic.

If you want the kids to interact rotate an officer to each elementary schools one day a week. Would only take 4 officers a day for the 19 schools. Or 2 officers a day if they split their time between 2 schools each day.

When I was in school we had no LE in schools.
We knew all the County Police that worked in our area, the officers stopped and talked to us while on patrol.

 

[Merlin99]

But building field stations by themselves isn’t expensive? Instead of spending a million dollars on the station on Great mills, spending the same amount to build it at the high school? Instead of seeing one cop once a week seeing a dozen different ones in passing every day? I still think the idea has merit, but I realize it’s unlikely to ever happen.

 

[black dog]

It would have been a win win if they just would have repurposed the old Donut Connection building as a sub station.