The Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office and School Board have agreed to a contract that would have an armed school resource officer in every school in the parish.

Sheriff Mark Garber says the opening of 16 new school resource officer positions will allow there to be one at every school in the parish.

It also creates a convenient program for them to learn from.

“We’ll have a ready-made training course right here locally, saving money on travel expenses and hotel rooms and things like that,” says Garber.

The openings come as part of a contract from the Lafayette Parish School Board that covers the costs of the officers and their training.

Contracts for private schools and their SROs are in the works as well.

Garber says it’s his job to fill any vacancies in the municipality.

“There may be more that the Sheriff’s Office is asked to staff but we’re going to work that out,” says Garber.

Garber says the job for these officers goes beyond just carrying a gun and includes preemptive actions.

“You’ve got to monitor social media, you’ve got to monitor the trends that are going on in your schools,” says Garber.

Garber says the knowledge of active shooters changes day-by-day and that is why he went outside of the parish but the state to keep the learning process going.

“I sent people to Washington D.C. recently, this past month to look at what the Capitol police have because thery are probably the best in the world and and we’re able to take the best of what they have,” says Garber.