School resource officers patrol hallways, social media to keep Wake County students safe

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Christopher Barros is one of the first people inside Ligon Magnet Middle School every day.

And he's also one of the last to leave.

He's the school resource officer who we spoke with on the first day of the traditional school year in Wake County

The only hiccup on the first two days of dismissal at Ligon Magnet Middle School was the heat.

Administrators kept students inside as much as possible before carpool and buses got rolling in the afternoon.

"The main priority of course is to make sure everyone is safe in the school from external or internal threats," said Deputy Barros, who has been the SRO for nearly four years.

ALSO SEE | Wake County welcomes back students as some schools experience bus delays

Barros noted that he walks the school four to five times a day.

The Wake County Public School System has upgraded its visitor programs and door-locking mechanisms. It also has a new bag policy at high school sporting events.

But the threats aren't just from people approaching the building.

"Ninety percent of the issues that come from students that reach my ears probably originated from the phones," Barros said. "Whether that is social media in general or students texting one another."

ALSO SEE | Air conditioner issues at Wake County schools catch eye of school board: 'Have to do something'

Mo Canady is the executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers.

He said it doesn't mean those officers are on TikTok and other platforms for eight hours a day, but that is a key part of the job now.

"The pandemic was the perfect storm that really drove people more into the social-media world, and I hate to keep alluding to that but it's a foundational piece of what we're dealing with," Canady said. "It's operating at a speed that none of us can completely keep up with. So it's a constant, constant battle."

Canady said that well-trained officers can find the beginnings of potential incidents before they happen.

He pointed us to the Averted School Violence Database, a national nonprofit advocacy and resource center that helps collaboration across the board.

It lists the different potential acts of violence that were stopped before they happened including one outside a Los Angeles school last week. A 13-year-old was arrested for making threats on social media.

"It takes a community to help all these children," Barros said. "It's not just the SROs, not just the administration staff. We need parents to be involved in these schools. I talk to the kids like anybody else. You'd be surprised how many students and kids want to be treated as though they are adults. Just talk to them that way."