Houston County Commissioners Discuss Kennard School Police Department
By Greg Ritchie
Messenger Reporter
HOUSTON COUNTY – The Houston County Commissioners Court met Tuesday, Feb. 28 to approve a memorandum of understanding between the Houston County Sheriff’s Office and the Kennard Independent School District (KISD).
KISD has been looking for a directory of security for the district which would eventually become the chief of the police department. While the recruiting is being finished, KISD and the sheriff’s office prepared the memorandum in order to begin the sometime lengthy process of getting state approval for the new police department.
The memorandum outlines how the sheriff’s department will work with the new department regarding areas of responsibility and other coordination between the two. This is the same procedure and memorandum signed last year with Latexo and Lovelady schools. Crockett ISD has also hired a new Director of Security which could eventually become chief of a Crockett ISD police department.
Having its own police force ensures school districts can use their own personnel for the schools and not have them called away if on loan from another agency. The chief and the officers can assist local law enforcement but would take their assignments from the district first – in order to make sure school security is first.
In other business, the court approved several requests from Houston County Sheriff Randy Hargrove: to promote Mark Simon from Deputy to Patrol Sergeant and to allot $600 to the sheriff’s department for training the department does for law enforcement from outside our area. The Houston County sheriff’s department has several people qualified to train law enforcement and the department has been providing light refreshments such as coffee out of their own pockets. Hargrove told the court since most of his training can be done in-house, this saves the county money since deputies do not need to be sent out of the county.
A 2013 Kenworth T800 truck was purchased for Precinct One for $20,000 and a 2006 Kenworth W900 truck was purchased for Precinct Four for $48,000. Both trucks will be used for work on roads and bridges.
Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]
