BCSO Homeland Security, Fall River Schools work to make classroom safer for students

A partnership between the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office and the Fall River School Department will help students be safer when they return to the classroom.

Members of the BCSO Homeland Security team recently completed a two-week training program for the school department’s security personnel that included lessons on first-aid, disaster response, suicide prevention, building security and more.

According to the the BCSO, the training request came from Joseph Correia, the director of environmental services, facilities and operations for the school department, and was approved by Bristol County Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson. BCSO Col. David Gavigan and Capt. William Camara led the training course with help from Sgts. Jaime Salgado and Glenn Taber, as well as health care professional Kelly Sousa.

Attending the training sessions from the Fall River schools’ security team were Christopher Almy, Alexandra Arruda, Bette Cahoon, Shauna Carlson, Jon Carr, Yorgan DeCastro, Bryan Ferreira, Kyle Frizado, Kelly Minor and Paul Sousa.

“There is no place in our society that needs to be more protected and safe than our schools,” Sheriff Hodgson said. “The Fall River School Department does an amazing job with its security personnel. It’s a group of dedicated professionals that care for each and every child in those schools. We’re happy to work with the school department on these training sessions, and Col. Gavigan is already getting ideas for new things to include next summer.”