GIBSON COUNTY, Ind. (WEHT)– A Tri-State school is beefing its force of school resource officers. Tonight, the South Gibson School Corporation voted to put sheriff deputies at the doors of every school in the district this fall. Before tonight, there was only one SRO officer at the high school.

“I think that if you look around the country, everybody is looking at hiring SRO’s for schools. I think it is an important step forward for the safety and security of kids.  I don’t think you can put a cost on that,” says Dr. Bryan Perry, the South Gibson School Superintendent.

The Gibson County Sheriff’s Office and South Gibson School officials say it has become a tradition over the years.

“And now we are taking the next step to put a full-time officer in each of the South Gibson Schools each and every day,” says Gibson County Sheriff Bruce Vanoven.

Vanoven is a school resource officer himself and has spent time at a school in Fort Branch for several years.

“They see me come in and I am just like one of the faculty and just like one of their friends. I am on the first line of defense for these guys, where they can come to me with their issues, and I can solve it,” Sheriff Vanoven says.

Board members all voted yes to put SRO’s at the door of each South Gibson School this fall. Their salaries will come from school corporation funds.

“We will budget for that for the future, it will be like any other item. We will have to start budgeting that into it. Hopefully someday, the legislature will start supporting that movement for all school corporations. We will get the government rate for the vehicles, and then they will have to be outfitted. We don’t anticipate necessarily buying the vehicles at one time, it will be spread out overtime.”

Parents at the meeting say they are overjoyed. In February, no school resource officer was at Haubstadt Community School when a man walked in through a door that want not normally used. Nobody was injured and South Gibson School parents say that incident highlighted the need for SRO’s in all of the schools.

“We would like our school safe at any cost. We could make our buildings safer. I think that we do a great job now, but I think that there is always room for improvement. I don’t think there is a price tag on our children’s safety,” the parents said.