The wave of new staff and faculty members in the Columbia School District this year are joined by a new school resource officer who’s eager to continue building a relationship between the district and the Columbia Police Department.

Officer Tyler McWhorter has an early background in Monroe County, having attended school in O’Fallon but, lived for a time in Columbia.

McWhorter said he had an interest in becoming a police officer since elementary school, and he pointed to his uncle, who served as a detective in Kansas City, as one of the biggest reasons for his career choice.

He started out working with the St. Louis County Police Department, working primarily in the North County precinct during his tenure before moving to Columbia.

Now serving as the community’s school resource officer, McWhorter said he’s always felt a draw toward working in schools.

“Going into policing, I wanted to be in the schools,” McWhorter said. “I like working with kids. Putting that positive impact on kids, seeing the police in different roles than just out making stops and doing traditional police work. Seeing them in classrooms, teaching, being more of a mentor and making those positive connections I think is huge.”

McWhorter is replacing former SRO Joe Roach, who started in that position last year but decided the role wasn’t quite right for him, Columbia Police Chief Jason Donjon said.

McWhorter gave a general rundown of his responsibilities as SRO for the community’s four public schools as well as Immaculate Conception School.

While a core component of the job is making sure the schools are all secure – checking locked doors, windows and other safety concerns – strengthening the relationship between the schools and police department is also important.

“Mainly I’m bouncing between the schools, making sure that safety and security for the buildings are a top priority at all times,” McWhorter said. “Once safety is pretty much established everywhere, it’s building those connections with staff and students, handling any issues that arise that are brought to me from staff or students and really just being an asset to the school.”

Donjon further described the importance of having an SRO in the community.

“An SRO is such a benefit, if just to let the kids know that the police are human, and we’re there to help more than anything,” Donjon said. “It’s a great asset to have, and Tyler’s a great officer to have, and I think he’s gonna do really well.”

Columbia Superintendent of Schools Chris Grode also offered his thoughts on the role of a SRO, echoing McWhorter and Donjon’s sentiments about the importance of a relationship between the school district and police department.

“I think the main thing is just the relationship between the emergency responders and the school district,” Grode said. “There’s that peace of mind knowing you’ve got an emergency responder on-hand, but they bring a lens to the organization that we educators don’t have. And them being there on a daily basis is a wonderful thing.”

McWhorter, who will also teach D.A.R.E. at Columbia Middle School later this year, said the start of the year has already been good, with each school receptive to any safety advice or concerns he’s had to offer.

With safety a top concern, he said he’s looking forward to the rest of the school year and hoping to return next fall as well.

“My hopes are to have a good, safe year with all the staff and just build those relationships up,” McWhorter said. “Hopefully this is a long-term position where I can build these relationships over time, stay in the school and just keep going.”