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Sheriff outlines Class 3 School Resource Officer training program to staff Beaufort County schools
Summary
County law-enforcement officials described a plan to recruit and locally train Class 3 School Resource Officers — an eight-week, locally delivered syllabus approved by the South Carolina Training Council — aimed at filling vacancies in elementary schools, targeting retired military and offering a starting pay cited at about $45,000.
A county law-enforcement official identified in the transcript as the sheriff described a locally run Class 3 School Resource Officer training program that officials hope to start in June with an eight-week syllabus approved by the South Carolina Training Council.
The sheriff said the program would allow candidates to receive all required training in Beaufort County rather than traveling to Columbia for Class 1 certification, making it more feasible for recruits with family obligations. “We would like to start our first class in June,” the sheriff said, describing an 8-week training plan to prepare officers for deployment when school begins in August.
Officials said the program targets retired military, retired law enforcement and others seeking a schedule aligned with school hours. The sheriff and supporting officials said the Class 3 designation would give officers uniformed, armed status with arrest powers on assigned school grounds. The presentation emphasized mentoring and relationship-building with elementary-school students as key goals.
Speakers described a roughly $45,000 starting salary for SRO hires and said pay and benefits including state retirement would be part of recruitment messaging. The presenters stressed cross-jurisdiction cooperation: hires could be employed by any participating municipality or the sheriff’s office and would train together to create a countywide network of SROs.
Officials said the county has openings but did not provide a single consolidated vacancy count in the transcript; multiple numbers were mentioned during discussion (several speakers referenced different counts for their jurisdictions). The presenters invited interested candidates to apply and said they would post program details on county and municipal web pages and share contact numbers for inquiries.
The presentation closed with officials urging local partners to help publicize the program and with positive remarks from other law-enforcement leaders about the value of an in-county training pipeline.
