No cause for alarm at Dexter High School. It’s just law enforcement training happening.
Dexter Community Schools sent a message out to the community on Sept. 30, giving a heads up as to why there will be some law enforcement vehicles at DHS on Oct. 2.
The message said:
“We are writing to let you know that there will be law enforcement vehicles parked at DHS in the loading parking lot behind the school in the morning on Wednesday, October 2nd.They will be conducting training not involving students or staff. We know it could be concerning to see a law enforcement presence on campus without explanation, so we wanted to get ahead of any concerns or rumors. We will also send a text out Tuesday evening as a follow-up.”
To learn more about this, the Sun Times News (STN) followed up with the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO).
Sgt. H. Eugene Rush of the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office Community Engagement Division said the training is Specialty Team Specific so he doesn’t know exactly what they’ll be training on, but he said only members from the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office and Local Law Enforcement officers from other agencies will be involved in the training. He said the goals are to make whatever Specialty Teams who are training, i.e. SWAT, Crisis Negotiation, Traffic, Water Rescue, etc., better at what they do and how they respond.”
STN also asked WCSO Corporal Gerrod Visel, who is the School Resource Officer at DHS. Visel is part of the School Liaison Officer Program, which is cooperative effort between education, law enforcement, and the community to promote positive and effective communication between youth, teachers and law enforcement.
Visel said the training is a yearly physical fitness re-certification by the county’s SWAT team members. They will be doing push-ups, pull ups, a run and additional fitness tests requirements with all of the training confined to the gym and weight room. He said a good portion of students enjoy watching the training.
