How integrating a school resource officer helped save two children from an 'unsafe' home

Kerry Justich
·Health and Wellness Staff Writer
<span>Baldwin County schools in Alabama introduced school resource officers to their campuses. </span>(Photo: Alamy)
Baldwin County schools in Alabama introduced school resource officers to their campuses. (Photo: Alamy)

One school district in Alabama introduced school resource officers (SRO) to each of their campuses for the first time this year — and already they’re seeing a positive impact, as two children have been saved from horrific conditions at home.

According to WPMI, when a 6-year-old student was dropped off at the Rosinton School in Robertsdale by her father, Thomas Charles Cottle Jr., the stationed SRO noticed that there was another child in the backseat of the car, without a seat belt, who was only 4 years old. He also noticed that both children were disheveled, prompting closer inspection of the little girls’ home life.

The officer had a chat with Cottle at the school before initiating a visit to check on the conditions at the home — a camper trailer where the two children; their mother, Brandy Michelle Booth; and Cottle lived with hot-wired power and no running water.

According to the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office, those conditions alone deemed the trailer “deplorable and unsafe for anyone to occupy.” However, the space also allegedly had drug paraphernalia and narcotics all around, as well as two guns. Booth allegedly admitted to smoking meth just 30 minutes before the inspection.

<span>Brandy Michelle Booth and Thomas Charles Cottle Jr. are facing multiple charges. </span>(Photos: BCSO)
Brandy Michelle Booth and Thomas Charles Cottle Jr. are facing multiple charges. (Photos: BCSO)

Both parents were taken to the Baldwin County Corrections Center and charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, unlawful possession of a controlled substance, and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia.

Baldwin County Public Schools didn’t immediately respond to Yahoo Lifestyle’s request for comment. The children have reportedly been placed in foster care.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

• Teacher’s bathroom note to students sparks outrage: ‘That borders on cruel and inhumane’
• Middle-schoolers told to thank cafeteria staff after maggots found in several lunches
• The Other Side of School Safety: Students Are Getting Tasered and Beaten by Police

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