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Beech Grove SRO says locked classroom doors and training reduced incidents at start of school year
Summary
Lieutenant Rinks reported a calm start to the year, described an active‑shooter drill that emphasized locked doors, outlined staffing and traffic adjustments, and noted a parent ban and a new director of school safety announced at a press conference.
Lieutenant Rinks, the district's School Resource Officer, told the Beech Grove City Schools board on Aug. 12 that the school year has started “really good” with few major incidents and that recent safety work has focused on keeping classroom doors closed during instructional time and on active‑shooter training exercises.
Rinks said staff and students have responded to the closed‑door emphasis and that a June active‑shooter drill at the middle school showed the practical effect: if doors are locked, officers would need a key or breaching equipment to enter. “If we can't get in and your doors are locked and we call for a lockdown, it's highly unlikely that... someone with bad intentions is gonna be able to get into your classroom too. That's our first line of defense,” he said.
The SRO reported one small fight at the high school linked to a summer incident and several routine parent confrontations tied to traffic and drop‑off; one parent was banned from district property through 2025 after a reported confrontation. Rinks said officers are deployed across sites (he is assigned to the high school; Officer Reese at Central; Officers Parker and Zoe at the middle school; Hartman is floating) and have been adjusting traffic patterns and drop‑off operations to ease congestion.
Rinks also said the district has pushed to reduce hallway roaming and tardies by tightening pass enforcement, and he praised higher participation in school lunches after the shift to closed‑campus lunch periods. He described positive student behavior examples — including students singing the fight song in the cafeteria — and said coaches and staff have helped develop school spirit.
At the meeting Rinks referenced a district press conference and named Julie Q. Smith as “now our director of school safety,” noting her statewide experience with school resource officer programs and the Indiana School Resource Officer Association. He said Smith is likely to pursue grant funding and federal dollars to support SRO programs and school safety work.
Board staff members and administrators asked clarifying questions about building temperatures, traffic, and the frequency of parent incidents; Rinks said he has seen fewer confrontations this year and that traffic issues are improving as patterns settle. He also said that while having an officer in every building would be ideal, the district budget makes that unlikely.
The presentation closed with board thanks and general acknowledgement from administrators that the year has begun smoothly.
