NCJ Number
185419
Journal
Sheriff Volume: 52 Issue: 5 Dated: September-October 2000 Pages: 14-16
Date Published
2000
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article profiles the qualifications and duties of Deputy Sheriff Mark A. Fox, who is a member of the Sheriff's Office School Police Team at Edgewood High School in Harford County, Md.
Abstract
Deputy Fox spends at least half of most school days in the halls and classrooms at Edgewood High School, talking informally with students and assisting school administrators. After school during the spring he dons an Edgewood High School baseball uniform and becomes assistant coach of the school baseball team. Deputy Fox is one of six deputies assigned to the program, which has just completed its second year in 11 of the county's 17 secondary schools. Based on Deputy Fox's friendliness, helpfulness, and fairness, students know that he is at the school to help keep students safe rather than to harass them. In addition to his work at Edgewood High School, Deputy Fox also spends a portion of his day at Edgewood Middle School working with faculty, staff, administrators, and students. In contrasting his regular presence at the schools with his former role of responding as a patrol officer to school incidents, Fox sees his current role as being much more helpful in preventing problems of student misconduct in the course of helping students to understand why positive behavior and attitudes are in their own best interest.