Sumter County sheriff’s officers and support personnel unveiled three new school resource vehicles Thursday afternoon at the Wildwood Community Center.
Sumter School Board members and administrators were present along with Sheriff Bill Farmer as Lt. Lawrence Winn explained how the decision was made to create the custom-marked school resource vehicles.
Winn, a 24-year veteran of the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office said he has attended many conferences as a school resource officer over the 19 years he has worked in that area of the sheriff’s office. He observed how a number of the larger law enforcement agencies had customized some of their school resource vehicles. With the support of Sheriff Farmer and the senior SCSO staff he met with the resource officers at the South Sumter High School, The Villages Charter School and the Wildwood Middle High School to discuss the idea.
The school resource officers then contacted different student groups including the student councils and art clubs for design ideas. Once the students had come up with designs for their resource officer’s vehicle, the sheriff’s office sent the art work out to Outer Image Inc. in Sumterville which created the wrap which went onto each unit.
The school resource officers plan to show off the new designs Friday. They also plan on having the vehicles at the schools’ football games this season and will use their emergency lights and sirens when their team scores.
Deputy Robert Hanson can’t wait to show the students the new vehicle at Friday night’s South Sumter High School homecoming.
“The kids are excited about the project and this is a bridge builder between the kids and law enforcement,” he said.
