Deputy Lee Completes Program at N.C. Justice Academy

Rutherford County Sheriff's Office Deputy Christopher R. Lee recently completed the School Resource Officer Certificate Program at the North Carolina Justice Academy. Lee was presented the honor by Rutherford County Sheriff Chris Francis.

The School Resource Officer Certificate Program is designed to recognize the achievement of law enforcement professionals who have dedicated themselves to making the schools safer for citizens. Officers, upon completion of the program, will have mastered several important aspects of School Resource Officer training and related topics, thus achieving a high level of professionalism for themselves as well as their agency.

The School Resource Officer Certificate Program requires the participants to be sworn law enforcement officers of a law enforcement agency and be assigned as a School Resource Officer or have previously assigned as a School Resource Officer. In addition, participants are required to have their agency's head approval to participate in the program due to the time spent away from the agency in efforts to obtain the training needed to complete the program. The certificate program requires four hundred (400) hours of training with the focus on School Resource Officers. The core requirements for the program consist of the basic School Resource Officer training in addition to advanced legal training and School Resource Officer ethics. All other hours needed to complete the program are relates electives offered through the North Carolina Justice Academy.

Deputy Lee is the 165th officer to receive the certificate since the program's inception.