BEAUFORT COUNTY, S.C. (WSAV) — School safety has been a big topic of discussion here and around the country.

Now Beaufort County is teaming up with several local police departments to get a new program up and running to make sure there will be an officer in all school halls.

“I have nine openings for school resource officers in the county. The Town of Bluffton has 4 and the City of Beaufort has 3,” said Beaufort County Sheriff PJ Tanner.

And that means trained deputies have to be pulled off the streets and into classrooms.

This is why the three municipalities along with Port Royal teamed up to create a new class of deputies, specifically designed for schools.

“You go through 8 weeks of training in Beaufort county and then two weeks of SRO training.”

It’s called an Advanced Class 3 School Resource Officer.

Beaufort County Sheriff’s staff designed the curriculum specifically for classrooms and students. Cutting down the training time while targeting specific disciplines the officers will need.

“I have had conversations with various people over the years about being an SRO,” said Tanner. “They just didn’t want to commit to 12 weeks of boot camp. It’s not something they want to be a part of.”

“The instructors will be from the state from the county from the municipalities,” said Tanner. “And the testing will be done by the criminal justice academy. It’s great pay, its a great schedule and it’s a great opportunity for someone who has always wanted to be in law enforcement.”

The SROs will be working school hours, on school schedules every day.

The curriculum has now been approved for use statewide, but Tanner says it’s the effect this will have locally that he is most proud of.

“That means we are in lockstep and the SRO program is just the first example of what we want to do and can do.”

“Right here in Beaufort County they hope to start in the next few months. the first class in June. if you would like to learn how to apply, go to https://bcso.net/school-resource-officer/