Canadian County Sheriff Chris West announced this week that his office has contracted with El Reno Public Schools for a School Resource Deputy, and that he is working with Riverside School District of El Reno to contract for a School Resource Deputy as well.  Both school districts applied for and were awarded state funded grant monies for these positions.  Earlier this month Sheriff West swore-in a new deputy for the new El Reno position, and his office is in the process of filling the Riverside slot.

“I’m honored to be able to provide deputies for both El Reno and Riverside Schools.  I’m also extremely thankful for the grant monies the state has made available to ensure the safety and security of our county’s school children,” said Chris West, Canadian County Sheriff.

Presently, the sheriff’s office has deputies assigned as School Resource Deputies in Mustang and Yukon Public Schools, as well as with the Canadian Valley Technology Center, and the sheriff’s office contracts with the Gary E. Miller Juvenile Justice Center (JJC) for Deputies working as Juvenile Investigators/Truancy Officers. 

“The protection of children continues to be my top priority. Unfortunately, there are very evil people in the world who would love to do harm to our precious little ones, so I’m thrilled to be able to partner with these school districts to keep them all safe,” Said West.

Over the past several weeks, Sheriff West has engaged in conversations with other school districts in the county regarding additional school resource deputies that could be needed in the very near future.  West and his staff are also engaged in discussions with the JJC to provide additional deputies as soon as they can be identified and hired.

“Presently, I have 17 deputies working across the county in these positions and I’ve actually doubled the number of School Resource Deputies.  In all, this is a significant increase from when I took office in 2017.  I anticipate gaining an additional 2 – 4 deputies in these areas by the time school starts back after the summer break later this year,” West said. 

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PHOTO: Pictured are deputies serving in the Juvenile Services division of the Canadian County Sheriff’s Office.

 

AUTHORITY:

Chris West

Sheriff

Canadian County, OK