BOTETOURT COUNTY, Va. – The Botetourt County Sheriff’s Office kicked off a new camp Monday to teach kids valuable lessons during a crucial time.
Deputies are taking on a new challenge this week as camp counselors.
“Wow, they actually have a real life behind all that work stuff too,” said 12-year-old camper Maggie Hoover, who wants to work in law enforcement when she’s older.
Creating bonds out of uniform is just one goal of the first-ever BOCO CAMP LEO.
More than 40 Botetourt County students are getting a taste of what it’s like to be a law enforcement officer through activities, working with fingerprinting, K-9s and the SWAT team.
Mixed in with all the fun are lots of important law enforcement lessons tackling serious issues like drugs, alcohol and bullying.
Above all else, this week is about building trust.
“This is kind of the groundwork so that when they got older, when they see officers, they’re not scared and they have that relationship with us so hopefully when they see an officer either on a traffic stop or on a call, they have more respect for us,” said Deputy Karley Goad.
The deputies putting aside their uniforms this week are the same school resource officers, or SROs, students see roaming their halls.
“My main goal always as an SRO is to let these students see that we’re people on the inside so if they do have a problem, they can come talk to us, not having to worry about I’m in trouble or I’m going to get in trouble so if we can bypass that, then we’ve come a long way,” said Deputy Andrew Morris.
That’s something Morris knows a thing or two about. A picture of him comforting a student went viral earlier this year.
“You’ve got to be willing to go that extra mile for anybody whether you’re in uniform or not,” Morris said.
That’s one of many lessons they hope to pass on this week.
“There are a lot of bad people in this world but there are also a lot of good people and I want to help those good people,” Hoover said.