The biggest change will be the uniform he wears while on duty at the schools.
Keith Williams has worked as a school resource officer at Seymour Community Schools since 2012, but after recently retiring from the Seymour Police Department, some changes were made.
The school now employs Williams as an SRO, and Williams also is affiliated with a different local law enforcement agency.
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Monday, at the school administration building, Williams was sworn-in by Jackson County Sheriff Rick Meyer as a special deputy/reserve officer.
Meyer said Williams is the sheriff’s department’s first school resource officer.
“It was a win-win situation for the school and us,” Meyer said. “It gives the sheriff’s department an officer in the schools and keeps Keith in Seymour schools full-time.”
Williams spent four years in the U.S. Air Force as a security police officer before working at his hometown police department in Salem for six years.
He was employed by Seymour Police Department from 2004 to 2019 and spent the last seven of those years as a school resource officer.
Seymour Community School Corp. currently has four school resource officers. They are Jack Hauer, Chadd Rogers, Seth Sage and Williams.
Like Williams, Hauer is employed by the school. Rogers and Sage are both employed by SPD.
Meyer said having an SRO will help his department better communicate with the schools and understand what’s going on in them.
He said the department hasn’t had an SRO in the past because of the costs.
“We’ve never been able to accomplish that,” Meyer said. “I hate to say it, but funding was always an issue. It’s hard to take an officer off the road. This gives us an opportunity to get Keith in there. In the future, hopefully we will get a couple more.”
Williams said he’s passionate about his work as an SRO and looks forward to continuing to work with the school.
“There’s something special about a school,” he said. “You can’t really explain it. When you work with kids, and you are able to help a child, that is probably the biggest fulfillment you can get in law enforcement. When I took this over in 2012, it felt like it was the first time I could really make a difference. That’s why police officers get into this line of work.”
Williams said he will be able to fully dedicate his time to the school, which he hasn’t been able to do in the past.
“It’s going to allow me to completely focus on the schools,” he said. “When I was working for Seymour Police Department, I was working for Seymour Police Department and Seymour schools. I had to answer to two different entities and do the job for both entities. This is going to allow me to just focus on the school and do all the things I need to be doing for the schools without any outside, extra duties.”
As far as the day-to-day duties, Williams doesn’t expect a huge difference.
“I don’t think there will be any difference, and I don’t want there to be any difference,” Williams said. “We want this to be as smooth as possible. Basically, the only difference is I’m wearing a different uniform. The job is going to stay the same, and my interaction with the school is going to stay the same. I’m just retired now, and now I’m a school employee with police authority.”