ARTIE, WV (WOAY)—The Raleigh County Sheriff’s Office routinely takes steps to improve or increase the safety and security of all of its schools.
So they are thrilled to open their new detachment in Clear Fork Elementary School and for its benefits to the community.
It’s a safety issue for the school kids and a top priority for the Raleigh County School System, the superintendent, board of education, and sheriff’s department.
“Good that people can come in and talk to a policeman and file a police report. If they have questions, they can come and interact with law enforcement,” said Sheriff Frank Priddy.
“We’re so far down here, it’s a great thing that it’s here. The school has blessed us with permission to have this office at this facility. It’s a win-win for both.”
Clear Fork Elementary will be the home base for two officers, and other officers will be in and out. Priddy says when he ran for sheriff, he vowed to put officers down at the river in this community.
“And that’s exactly what I’ve done,” he said. “If they have to arrest somebody, they’re going to have to take them to jail. There’s going to be a window when someone is not here. But for the most part, there’s going to be someone out here all the time.”
It’s a remote school, where it will take time for law enforcement to get to Clear Fork (Elementary) in an emergency. And they didn’t necessarily have a school resource officer on site daily like many of the secondary schools.
“I think this is a good deterrent for anything bad to happen. We have a fully functional office here,” said the sheriff. “We need some pictures on the walls and some banners and so forth. We need to make it home. But yeah, we can take care of business right now.”
This school’s on kind of the farthest reaches of Raleigh County.
“Ghent and here at Clear Fork will both have a detachment on site, so that’s very helpful,” Raleigh County Schools Superintendent Serena Starcher said. “It’s been a privilege to work with the commission and the Sheriff’s Department to make that happen.”
