Lovelady School Police On the Job, Even in Summer
Greg Ritchie
Messenger Reporter
LOVELADY – Even though it’s summer, Lovelady Independent School District (LISD) isn’t taking a break from making schools safer — and neither are the local police. This week, LISD Police Chief Michael Merchant organized a series of campus walk-throughs for law enforcement officers and first responders from across the county. The goal? Making sure those who might respond to an emergency know every inch of the school before they ever need to.
“God forbid something happens,” Chief Merchant said. “I want the people responding to save me and our kids to be familiar with the school — really familiar. And summer is the only time I can get them into places like kitchens, locker rooms, or coaching offices, without disrupting learning.”
Chief Merchant arranged three separate tours over two days and was able to bring in 33 first responders — a strong turnout, showing how local agencies make a point of coordinating.
“We had folks from DPS, the sheriff’s office, Crockett Police Department, Lovelady Fire, EMS, emergency management — they all came,” Merchant said. “They showed up and we walked every inch of the campuses. Every hallway, every back room. Places where someone might hide, or we might need to search.”
Now entering his fourth year as the district’s first police chief, Merchant has made interagency coordination a top priority. He holds regular safety meetings that include not just educators and officers, but county commissioners, district attorneys, emergency managers, and other school district police chiefs from across the region.
“It’s gonna take a village to keep everybody safe,” he said. “If it happens in Lovelady, it can happen in Kennard. If it happens in Franklin, it can happen in Crockett. That’s why I talk to all the other ISD chiefs. We’ve got to stay ahead of the curve.”
The walkthroughs are part of a growing network of safety protocols designed to turn response planning into muscle memory.
“We talk through emergencies so many times it becomes automatic,” Merchant said. “Because when that adrenaline hits, our brains are gonna shut off. It’s all about muscle reflex.”
Chief Merchant also touched on other issues facing schools — including the upcoming state law further restricting student cell phone use during school hours. While some districts may be adjusting to the change, LISD is already ahead of the curve.
“We’ve already been collecting phones when kids enter the classroom,” Merchant explained. “Teachers have little boxes and students drop their phones in. They get them back between classes and hand them to the next teacher. So I don’t think the new law will be a big shift for us.”
But Merchant is concerned about cell phones for a different reason — emergency communication.
“My biggest concern as chief of police is that if we ever had an a dangerous situation, everybody would jump on their phones at once — and it would crash the network,” he said.
Despite the gravity of his role, Merchant says he’s more fulfilled in this position than he ever expected.
“Starting my thirty-third year in law enforcement, I never imagined I’d be working in a school,” he said. “But this is a very satisfying job. We’re launching some new programs soon — I can’t talk about them just yet — but they’ll help kids even more. Hopefully by Christmas I’ll have more to share.”
Whether it’s coordinating safety tours, adapting to new laws, or just being a steady presence in the hallways, Chief Merchant’s commitment to the students of Lovelady is clear.
“We had a successful year — great graduation, strong athletics, and the kids were great,” he said. “But safety is something we always work on. It doesn’t stop when the school year ends.”
Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]
