BELLE — Maries R-2 students will be seeing alot of more of the Maries County Sheriff’s Department within their halls this year as School Resource Officer (SRO) Deputy Caleb Cooper and reserve Deputy Dustin Hawley establish themselves on campus.

Cooper and Hawley toured the Belle Elementary School (BES) and Belle High School (BHS) Aug. 15, along with Maries County Sheriff Chris Heitman and BES Principal Vanessa Feeler. Heitman said they had previously hired Nicole Finn to be SRO, but that changed when she and her husband learned they were pregnant. Cooper and Hawley recently accepted the position.

“I just accepted this position mainly because I’m interested in teaching the Junior Deputy Program,” Cooper said. “I want to help at-risk kids — kids who are struggling in school, and improve the school’s security.”

Since there was not enough time between Finn stepping down and Cooper accepting the position to attend the SRO training, Cooper will attend the next available training in October, and Hawley will attend the classes available after in the months to follow. Both will have completed the SRO training before the end of the 2020 school year.

While Cooper is in SRO training in October, Hawley, as alternate SRO, will step in.

“One of us will always be here to cover for the other,” Cooper said. “We will always have a deputy on staff at the school.”

Cooper is also an active member of the National Guard and has experience as both a military and civilian police officer.  He is originally from Rich Fountain and graduated from Fatima High School in 2014. With his background in security, his initial assessment of the school’s safety was positive.

“Nothing particular that notably stood out,” Cooper said. “Their security looks good and talking with the Belle PD, they did not see many issues. But there is always room to improve.”

Cooper said his main goal is improving security for kids.

“Whether that is physical security, helping prevent kids from being victimized from crimes against children — I am hoping the SRO will help and be an asset to any ongoing or future investigations involving the youth or children,” Cooper said.

Heitman thought Cooper’s previous background in the state’s counter drug program would make the deputy an asset to teach a school drug education program. Cooper said in addition to the Junior Deputy Program, he would like to educate students on substance abuse, alcohol prevention, child abuse, and maybe firearm safety.

“We are still working out the specifics of what we are going to include; but instead of teaching other officers, I am teaching kids,” Cooper said. “We need to talk to kids about substance abuse first, not after they’ve been offered something. Talk about the short and long-term effects.”

Hawley will be filling in for the classes and drug education in Cooper’s absence and said the talks can be super simple.

“Just be open with them,” Hawley said.

Hawley is originally from Wheeler, Texas, and enlisted in the military after high school. He served in the army for three years and was stationed in Alaska. While still on active duty, he met and married his wife. When his tour was over, they made their home in Joplin, Mo., where Hawley eventually went through the Missouri Southern State University (MSSU) Law Enforcement Academy, before being hired by the Joplin Police Department.

“Coming from Joplin, I worked a lot of crimes against kids,” Hawley said. “My primary purpose is to go after the drugs and I am interested to come in and see from the kids aspect. I just need to get them to approach me — to talk to them.”

Both officers agree they want this program to be able to prevent crimes, not react to them.

“Whether it’s improving home life, education, preventing crimes before they occur — we can be more preventative,” Cooper said. “People recall the SRO being a pretty face with a badge who is nice to kids, but I am also a SWAT officer and tactical medical instructor.”

The SRO will be at the school at least 40 hours a week, as well as ballgames, and any school affiliated program with a lot of kids, the officers said. For now, the two are working out of the conference room at the administration building in Belle.

“Students can come here and talk to us, we plan to have an open door policy,” Cooper said. “All faculty will be able to reach us, we will be out and about at the school and be as approachable as possible.”

Cooper said if a student does not want to approach the officers during school hours, to contact the Maries County Sheriff’s Office and the officers will meet them after hours.

“There will always be a way to reach us,”Hawley said. “We will be around.”