The Hall County Sheriff's Office school based services unit offers proactive strategies to enhance protective factors for young people. The Sheriff's Office dedicates (18) Deputies to the school based services unit. Thirteen of those officers are assigned as School Resource Officers (SRO) at our six middle schools and six high schools. The five remaining officers facilitate the ADVANCE (Avoiding Drugs, Violence, and Negative Choices Early) program to fifth graders at our nineteen elementary schools.



The ADVANCE program complies with National Health Standards for drug education and has been used as a template for the Georgia Sheriff's Association CHAMPS education model. Strategies include emphasis on development of social competence, conflict resolution, and positive alternatives to drugs, violence, and gangs. In addition, informational lessons on personal safety, stranger-danger, internet safety, and water safety are facilitated through the elementary and middle schools. Building upon the foundation of the ADVANCE program, the GREAT (Gang Resistance Education and Training) program, developed by Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms Administration, is highly effective with middle-school students.

The term "School Resource Officer" (SRO) refers to officers who apply a community policing philosophy within a school environment. The school is their permanent "beat," and SRO's pursue a personal relationship with the citizens of their beat. They patrol and provide a policing function, they are proactive and attempt to solve problems, and they act in partnership with the school community.



SRO's are trained to fulfill three primary roles. First and foremost, they are law enforcement Officers whose main purpose is to "keep the peace" in their schools so students can learn. Second, they are law-related counselors who provide guidance and information to students, their families, and school staff while acting as links to support services both inside and outside the school environment. And thirdly, they are law-related educators who provide the schools with an additional resource by sharing their expertise in the classroom.

The SRO program serves as a way to open the lines of communication between the School System and the Sheriff's Office, which enables us to address a wide range of issues in schools such as violence, drug abuse, and any other problem for which there is mutual concern among school administration and law enforcement. The SRO program serves as a source of feedback for the Sheriff's Office to help better understand the fears and concerns of the community's youth, which in turn enables the development of problem solving efforts.

School Based Services Contact
Lieutenant Gene Joy School Based Programs Commander  770.533.7806  Email	610 Main Street SW Gainesville, GA 30501-4420 Driving Map