Our new student resource officer isn’t just a regular police officer; he also has many years of experience working with kids. Before Officer Jon Alsip came to Travelers Rest, he worked in a boy’s home for juvenile delinquents, and he also worked in social services as a drug counselor and as a job coordinator for a rehab program. Alsip is highly qualified and is a new face you will be seeing a lot more of at Travelers Rest. In fact, Alsip mentions that TR is “[his] town and [he plans]  to be here for a long time.”

Alsip has been a police officer for seven years but was looking for a change of pace, so he decided to become a student resource officer. He trained for two weeks to become a student resource officer. His training focused on learning how to deal with kids and teenagers. The training covered everything from learning styles, to the juvenile justice system, which is different from the adult system. Alsip is also trained to deal with active shooter scenarios and is “prepared to deal with someone trying to cause problems.”

Alsip is planning to become certified to teach the Alive at 25 class. Alive at 25 is a class designed to inform teenagers about the risks of car crashes and driving safely, and is a requirement that students have to take to get a parking pass. If you haven’t taken the class yet you will get a chance to meet him when they start in January.