September 4th left Georgians in a grieving, and scared state of mind. After losing the two teachers Richard Aspenwell and Christina Irmie, alongside students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo to an act of unjustified gun violence, it’s not difficult to understand why. And while there is still work to improve safety in our school zones, and encourage safe gun ownership, I wanted to sit down with Sheriff Freeman of Forsyth County’s Sheriff's Office to learn about the measures local law enforcement were taking (and have taken) to keep Forsyth County residents safe.
Sheriff Ron Freemanhas been with the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office since December of 1987 and was elected to the position in 2016. Prior to that he was a Forsyth County resident, graduating from Forsyth Central High School in 1987 with his now-wife, and putting both his kids through North Forsyth High School. School and community safety is a personal endeavor for him.
When asked about the safety measures his office was taking, he responded, “So there's a lot of pieces that we put in place, and I spoke at the Board of Education Meeting, along with school safety. You know, when I took office as Sheriff in 2017, we had, I have to go back and look, I want to say we had 11 school resource officers. Today, we have 58.” These officers are tasked with stopping an emergency as quickly as possible, should one happen. But the department is focusing on preventative measures as well.
He continued, “We also have SAS’s (Student Advocacy Specialists) which are basically crisis counselors. They're not the traditional counselors in school. They work for school safety, and their job is to take students who are in crisis, who may be homicidal, suicidal, or express some ideations of things like that, and really encircle them with the resources and help them.”
And this is a resource hosted by no other county in the nation. Developed by Forsyth County there are now ten SASs, and the Board of Education is looking to put into place more to prevent crises before they happen.
Threat assessment and investigation are also an integral part of safety plans in place. Sadly, after Apalachee Forsyth County high schools experienced an influx of threats. While the majority were fake and incredibly insensitive to the victims of the Apalachee Shooting, each was investigated in full. Preventative measures can also be taken by the community. While Sheriff Freeman recognizes that some homes wish to own guns, conversations about responsible gun ownership have their place.
“If I have a kid that's in some type of crisis, I have to be smart enough to take extra precaution to make sure that those guns are safe away...”
“If you're a responsible gun owner, that means, you think to yourself, ‘If I have a young child at home, I need my gun to be secure. There's technology now where I can instantly access my gun to defend my home and my family, but yet my sixth grader can't get to it, right?’ And it also means, you know, ‘If I have a kid that's in some type of crisis, right, they're going through depression, they're going through some mental health, anxiety, struggles, whatever it might be, then I have to be smart enough to know that I need to take extra precaution to make sure that those guns are safe away,’” said Sheriff Freeman.
Students can also take precautions to ensure school safety. Sheriff Freeman acknowledges it is unfair that students must be forced to take responsibility to prevent crises and violence, in almost all school shootings someone knew about it beforehand. He implores students to, “...be aware of your circumstances. Be aware of what’s going on around you. Some people have also said it's not right to tell students to always, ‘See Something, and Say Something,’ or use the P3 Campus report tipline. You're right. It's not fair, but it is our number one line of defense.”
And while there is always room to grow and improve as community, I think Forsyth County residents can feel safe putting their trust in our local law enforcement to keep evolving and keep our schools safe.