School Resource Officer starts work for Kimball PD

Kimball has acquired a School Resource Officer (SRO). The SRO is stationed at the high school but also keeps an eye on the elementary school. His first and foremost duty is assuring the safety of the students.

Ryan Smith is the new SRO and he recently moved to Kimball with his family.

"I have a wife, Omruthai, she works up at the Manor and I have two boys James and Justin, James is an eighth grader and Justin is a fifth grader. I do have a twenty-one year old daughter who goes to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland," Smith said

Smith is a Nebraska native, and he has a background in education in addition to law enforcement.

"I'm from Wallace Nebraska, that's where I grew up and went to high school and graduated from there. Went to school at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Got an education degree in social science 7 through 12. I did teach one year at Maywood High School, taught high school history and elementary P.E. I'm a Chief Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve. So that's kind of my background. Which kind of was a good fit for this job I thought, bit of both worlds, education and law enforcement combined together," Smith said.

Even though Smith had thought that he was going to be a teacher, due to his college education, he ended up getting tossed into law enforcement.

"I graduated from college in 2001, and immediately after I graduated I got mobilized again because the war on terrorism broke out and so they needed security guards, and law enforcement, and military police everywhere. So I go over to Atsugi, Japan and they say here's your gun and here's your badge, you're a military police officer. Which I didn't do in the Navy, I'm a personnel specialist, kind of an admin pay guy in the Navy," Smith said.

After his time in Japan he returned and that was when he did his year of teaching at Maywood High School. Smith said that it was around this time that he was trying to figure out what his career would be.

"I kind of remembered, I don't know, the joy I had from doing law enforcement and there were several guys over there that actually were state troopers. There was the a sergeant from the Hastings, Minnesota Police Department and he was a big influence on my decision he said, 'You should really look into it and give it a try because you're good at it.' So I was like 'okay,'" Smith said.

Smith made the transition to law enforcement and that has been his occupation since.

"I have been certified since 2004 when I attended the academy I've been in it that whole time but I have had some military mobilizations which have taken me away from it for a while. I am coming from the Boone County Sheriff's Office in Albion, Nebraska where I was a Deputy Sheriff out there," Smith said.

Smith said he felt that his background was a good fit for the position of SRO, because he has experience both with education and law enforcement. As an SRO he has to be able to be available to tend to the safety of the students. He handles traffic in the morning and will also be working with Police Chief Huff to implicate Project FUN, which is still being developed. Once Project FUN starts the SRO will be involved in assemblies for drug and alcohol prevention.

The schools have been in need of an SRO, so Smith has been rather busy since his arrival. An SRO is a wonderful asset to the educational community of Kimball. With his background involving both education and law enforcement, Smith is a good fit.