Junior Deputy

The Junior Deputy Program was created in 1993. The program is a partnership with the Troup County School System whereby a Deputy Sheriff visits the third graders in all 12 elementary Schools. The Deputy teaches four lessons at each individual school exclusively to the third grade class. The lessons are as follows: safety at school, safety at home, bicycle safety and say no to drugs. Each student is provided an accompanying work book and an official I.D. card at the culmination of the program. The students learn important safety tips in each block with their instructor answering questions and interacting with the students as much as time will allow. At the end of the school year, each school picks one student from their entire third grade to represent them as the “Sheriff for a Day”. The Sheriff for a Day is a reward for the student’s hard work in the Junior Deputy Program and their recognition as good role models for their fellow students. Each Sheriff for a Day student is picked up at his or her individual school the morning of the event in an actual Troup County Sheriff’s Office Patrol Car and then transported to the Sheriff’s Office. Upon their arrival at the Sheriff’s Office they are introduced to Sheriff Woodruff and the other staff members, given an official I.D. card with their picture and a custom made t-shirt proclaiming them as sheriff for a day. The students are then taken on a tour of the facilities and given an equipment demonstration. The students are then taken to the Troup County Government Center for a tour and while there they are allowed to view an actual trial in progress. Once leaving the Government Center the students are taken to the E-911 dispatch center and given a tour by the Director. The students are then taken back to their individual schools. The program has been received very well by the teachers, students and community for a number of years. Withstanding the test of time, as with any educational program, is in fact due to the quality of our educators here in Troup County partnering with the sheriff’s office, in our endeavor to make our kids safer in their everyday lives, through knowledge.