Recently, Baltimore County Council Chairwoman Vicki Almond (D-2nd) and Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-2nd) signed an international agreement with the Georgian Ministry of Education and Science to begin training for school resource officers in schools in Georgia, a country located in Southwest Asia formerly part of the Soviet Union.
The Georgian Minister of Education and Science, Dimitri Shaskini, and the Head of Service for the Georgian Office of Resource Officers, Zviad Khidisheli, along with National Association of School Resource Officers president Barry Orton, students and teachers from Franklin High School in Reisterstown, and Franklin's school resource officer Don Bridges, were all present to witness the signing of the agreement in Ruppersberger's office in Washington, D.C. recently
"Being a part of that signing was huge," Almond said.
The National Association of School Resource Officers is a nonprofit organization that places police officers in middle and high schools to partner with school administrators and parents to mentor students and ensure a safe learning environment.
Bridges was one of the first school resource officers in Baltimore County's branch of the organization, one of the biggest in the nation with 60 resource officers.
The agreement with Georgia provides training for up to 1,000 school resource officers.
"It is gratifying to be here with Dutch and Don and see how far this program has come from its earliest days in Baltimore County to being an international model of excellence," Almond said in a statement.
When the program first started in Baltimore County, Almond, who was a PTA volunteer at the time, recalled travelling to North Carolina, where school resource officers were already in place, to see how their program worked.
The trip followed closely behind the Columbine High School shooting in Colorado.
"It was all about safety for the kids," she said. "We were ready for a program like this, so it came at a good time."
Ruppersberger was county executive at the time.
This partnership began last year when a representative from Georgia contacted NASRO to ask about how they could implement a similar program in the Georgian school system.
From that contact, the organization partnered with Baltimore County to send Bridges and other representatives to Georgia to further explain the program.
For the officers training in Georgia, the organization will provide copies of the school resource officer curriculum and best practices.
The training will start in spring.
Almond says she would like to see school resource officers placed in elementary schools as well, possibly once a week. She added that National Association of School Resource Officers is also in talks with Guam to train officers for their school system.
