SROs serve for safety

The walls of Gary Stiles' office, tucked just inside the main entrance of Gatesville Elementary School, bear witness his storied career in law enforcement.

Over a dozen framed certificates and official awards share space alongside photographs that chronicle his years of community service. Stiles, 58, who oversees four Gatesville School Resource Officers is a sergeant in the Gatesville Police Department. His many accolades include a Lifesaving Award bestowed by the Texas Department of Public Safety in 2016.

“I’m an employee of the City of Gatesville right now,” he explains, “but as soon as the paperwork is approved in Austin, I’ll be working for the Gatesville ISD.” The switch is expected to take place any day, and aside from new badges and uniforms, nothing will change for the SROs.

Stiles was raised in Florence and began his law enforcement work 33 years ago in Copperas Cove. He later served Williamson County as an investigator and was recruited, made a Senior Corporal and assigned by the Highway Patrol to cover a vast area that included Killeen, Copperas Cove and Gatesville as well as Bosque County. He retired four years ago and was asked to helm the SRO program in Gatesville.

Three of his daughters work in law enforcement and his wife was a supervisor for Austin’s 911 program. Stiles has 2 grandchildren enrolled at Gatesville Elementary.

The Uvalde mass shooting radically changed school security, he stresses. “That was our 9-11 event,” he says. “It forced drastic changes to school safety.” Some specific initiatives and physical alterations he won’t discuss, as a nod to caution, but he’s quick to acknowledge the support and encouragement he’s received from the Gatesville ISD administration.

"(Gatesville ISD Superintendent) Dr. Pollard is very proactive in setting up the SRO program and keeping it going,” Stiles adds. “I was surprised that a community the size of Gatesville had such a forward thinking school administration."

He pauses to reflect on pre-Uvalde safety initiatives. “We were already keeping the exterior perimeters secure. When COVID hit it put a stop to parents and grandparents eating lunch with our students.”

He ticks off increased security measures, including bullet-resistant coatings applied to window and door glass, one-way viewing that is opaque when viewed from outside, each visitor stopped at the front entrance, driver license scanned and then required to wear a pass and be escorted by administrative staff member or an SRO. Also, each classroom door is locked to the hallway and only one exterior entrance door is unlocked - located at the main front entrance. A Gatesville Police cruiser is conspicuously parked in a can’t-miss spot at the main entrance all day long.

While locked to prevent outsiders from entering, all exterior doors are unlocked to allow rapid exit from inside should fire or any other calamity occur. “This building was built to be pretty,” Stiles comments. “Safety was not the priority.”

He believes that the trend of redirecting teachers and administrators to notice potentially troublesome behavior will help school safety. “To pick up on clues - red flags - that’s important.” He downplays the notion that SRO presence on campus is in any way punitive. “I’m not here to discipline students,” Stiles emphasizes. “We want the kids to be comfortable with us. If bad things happen they’ll come to us because they trust and regard us as friends.”

He lists three points that are the Gatesville SRO goals. “First, I’m the ‘safety guy’. Second, I’m here to teach kids and third, I hope to serve as a mentor. A positive male role model.” Stiles’ SROs are also certified as Mental Health Officers.

A new volunteer program, Friends On Duty, allows retired law enforcement and military to assist SROs. “These are folks that have been vetted and trained, capable people that can help us out,” he comments. Interested individuals may contact Stiles or the Superintendent’s office for more information.

“Uvalde brought everybody in this state to recognize the importance of safety for our kids,” Stiles says. “And I have a vested interest in our students’ safety. The day I started here I went from having two granddaughters in this school to having 600 grandkids.”