DSI Guards Serve as Security for Houston County Schools
By: Jamiese Price
Updated: January 28, 2013
The Houston County School district is no longer using Houston County Lt. Randy Anderson as its Resource Officer. The school system contracted DSI Security to provide guards at all of Houston County's Schools.
The guards started Monday, January 28th and will continue throughout the school year. According to DSI Representative Boyd Clark, the role of the guards is to control access at the schools. This includes checking ID's and making sure people coming on school grounds are suppose to be there. However, the guards are not armed.
Sheriff Andy Hughes said these guards will not act as a deterrent. "An unarmed security guard in a school I don't think is any deterrent to an individual who has their mind set on inflicting violence upon children or administrative officials at the school," explained Hughes. Instead of using an unarmed guard, Hughes suggests hiring retired officers. "That way we could have armed individuals there with prior law enforcement experience and that would have been a deterrent," continued Hughes.
The resource officer was not funded by the Houston County Schools. He was paid through the sheriff's office. The DSI Guards will also serve as security at the Houston County School Board meetings.
